Former PBOC governor wins UK's 2019 Central Banking lifetime achievement award

Zhou Xiaochuan, the former People's Bank of China (PBoC) governor, has been given a lifetime achievement award from the British publication Central Banking Journal. Zhou is the sixth recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the journal.

Former governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan. [File photo: Xinhua]

"Zhou stands out for his high levels of integrity, intellectual rigor and bold reforms that have served the public interest in China and elsewhere," said an announcement on the journal's website.

The 71-year-old served as governor of the PBoC for 15 years until March last year. During his tenure, he demonstrated high levels of integrity in his pursuit of public interest and brought academic rigor to real-world decision-making. He also kept a firm lid on inflation by strengthening China's ability to implement monetary policy.

"He has successfully steered monetary policy while structural transformation was in full swing, contributing importantly to China's sustained growth to become the second-largest economy in the world," Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told Central Banking.

"Zhou has a great reputation amongst his colleagues and superiors for being very open-minded, clear in his analysis and a great attractor of talent, open to bringing home many US and foreign-trained economists and bankers," said Andrew Sheng, an international adviser to China Investment Corporation and the China Development Bank, and former deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. "The willingness to debate and engage created the reputation and authority that served him and the PBoC well."

In retirement, Zhou continues to play an important role in China's development. He is president of the China Society for Finance and Banking, vice-chairman and China's chief representative at the Boao Forum for Asia, chairman of the International Finance Forum, and a professor and tutor of doctorate candidates at the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management and the PBC School of Finance.