Zeti Akhtar Aziz

Zeti Akhtar Aziz was born in Johor Bahru, Johor on 26 August 1947; to father Ungku Aziz, who is of Malay, Circassian[1][2] and English[3] descent, and mother Sharifah Azah Mohamed Alsagoff, who was of Hadhrami Arab and Malay descent.[4][5] Her father Ungku Aziz was an economist and former vice-chancellor for the University of Malaya from 1968 to 1988. He received the title "Royal Professor".

She received her early education at the Assunta School, Petaling Jaya in 1964. She then completed her Form 6 in St. John's Institution, Kuala Lumpur. In 1970, she received a bachelor's degree in Economics from University Malaya.

She continued her studies in the Department of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, receiving a PhD in monetary and international economics in 1978. As part of her PhD, dissertation she carried out pioneering work on capital flows and its implications for monetary policy.

Zeti began her career as an economic analyst for the South-East Asia Central Bank Training & Research Center, remaining at that post from 1979 to 1984. She was then appointed Deputy Manager of the Economics Department at Bank Negara Malaysia.

In 2009, Global Finance named her as one of the world's best central bank chiefs.[6] In 2010 during the national-level Ma'al Hijrah celebrations held that year, the Malaysian government had awarded her with the title of "Tokoh Ma'al Hijrah 1432H" ("Figure of the New Year 1432AH").[7]

On 20 May 2011, Bloomberg columnist William Pesek had picked Zeti, during her post as Bank Negara governor, as one of his top four nominees to head the prestigious International Monetary Fund after the position became vacant following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn who was arrested in New York, and is presently facing sexual assault charges.[8]

In 2013, she was again accorded “Grade A” among the heads of central banks for the 10th time by the Global Finance magazine. She was awarded alongside Philippines’ central bank governor Amando Tetangco, Jr. and Taiwan’s Central Bank Governor Perng Fai-nan, from a list of central bank governors of more than 50 key countries.[9]

Zeti was named the recipient of Central Banking's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.[10]

Zeti was also the Chairman of the Asian Institute of Finance.

On 12 May 2018, it was announced by the Prime Minister Mahathir that Zeti had been appointed as a member of the Council of Eminent Persons, which would serve as advisors to the new government under Pakatan Harapan after the coalition won the 2018 general election[11] She joined Daim Zainuddin, Robert Kuok, Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Hassan Merican. The purpose of the Council was to advise the Government on matters pertaining to economic and financial matters during the transition of power period.

Zeti was appointed the Group Chairman of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) on 1 July 2018.[12] She was also appointed the Chairman of Sime Darby Property. She is the first woman to hold the post.[13]

Zeti is married to Tawfiq Ayman, and they have two children. Her father is Profesor Diraja Tun Dr. Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid while her mother is Sharifah Azah Mohamed Alsagoff.