Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed Hafize Gaye Erkan as the new central bank governor to replace Sahap Kavcioglu.
The appointment follows those made in recent days with which Erdogan appointed Mehmet Simsek as the new minister of the Treasury and Finance.
Erkan, a former bank executive in the United States, is the first woman to head the Turkish monetary authority. She previously worked at Goldman Sachs and San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, which went bankrupt in May, more than a year after Erkan stepped down as co-CEO.
Fifth governor in 4 years
Erkan is the fifth president of the Turkish central bank in just four years, after Erdogan all but wiped out the bank’s independence in recent years.
The 43-year-old replaces Sahap Kavcioglu, who led the interest rate cut strongly desired by Erdogan who caused a collapse of the Turkish lira in 2021 and drove inflation to a 24-year peak above 85% last year.
solid resume
Born in 1982, Erkan was Chief Executive Officer of the US-based First Republic Bank and Managing Director of investment bank Goldman Sachs. Erkan was the first woman under the age of 40 to hold the position of president or CEO of one of the 100 largest banks in the United States, writes the Anadolu news agency.