In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Ungku Abdul Aziz is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Ungku Zeti Akhtar. The word "bin" or "binti"/"binte" means 'son of' or 'daughter of', respectively.
Zeti speaking about leadership Recorded 4 November 2014
Ungku Zeti Akhtar binti Ungku Abdul Aziz (born 27 August 1947) is a Malaysian economist who served as the seventh governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia from 2000 to 2016, becoming the first woman to hold the position.
During her 16-year tenure, she oversaw key initiatives in Islamic finance, financial sector reforms, and regional cooperation, including chairing committees at the Bank for International Settlements and contributing to the establishment of the Islamic Financial Services Board, the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation, and the Asia School of Business. She stepped down in April 2016 as the second longest-serving governor in the bank's history. Afterward, she was appointed to the Council of Eminent Persons in 2018 and later became group chairman of Permodalan Nasional Berhad and chairman of Sime Darby Property until her retirement in 2021. In the years following, she was linked to investigations surrounding 1MDB but denied allegations of wrongdoing and continued to provide testimony in related court proceedings through 2023. She has received multiple international honours for her leadership, including lifetime achievement awards and The Royal Award for Islamic Finance.
Early life and education
Ungku Zeti Akhtar[a] was born in Johor Bahru, in then Malayan Union on 26 August 1947. Her father Ungku Abdul Aziz, an economist,[3] and mother Azah Aziz, a Malaysian journalist and cultural historian.[4] Zeti has called her parents a "tremendous inspiration" and "highly controversial for their ideas and opinions" at particular points in life.[5]
Zeti returned to Kuala Lumpur in 1979 and began her career as a research economist at the South East Asian Central Banks Research and Training Centre,[5] where she worked until 1984.[6] During this time, she contributed to studies on interest rates and monetary aggregates and prepared the annual Economic Survey on SEACENCountries, while also participating in the centre's training courses, seminars, and meetings.[7] In 1985, after completing two volumes on regional interest rate reform and gaining recognition from the Malaysian Central Bank governor Ismail Mohamed Ali, she became deputy manager in the economics section of the central bank.[5]
Zeti first entered the Central Bank of Malaysia to begin her career and became deputy manager of the economics department. She was appointed acting governor on 31 August 1998[5] after Ahmad Mohd Don resigned[6] and served as deputy governor alongside Ali Abul Hassan Sulaiman for fifteen months until confirmed as governor on 1 May 2000,[5] becoming the bank's seventh governor and first female to preside over the institution.[6] In 2001, she became a member of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Central Bank Governance Group.[5] In 2006, her term as governor was extended for five additional years.[8]
During her tenure, Zeti held leadership positions in regional and international financial institutions. She chaired the East Asia-Pacific Central Banks task force, co-chaired the Financial Stability Board Regional Consultative Group for Asia,[5] and chaired the BIS Asian Consultative Council (ACC) from October 2008 until 13 September 2010,[b] when she was succeeded by Masaaki Shirakawa.[10]
Internationally, she was featured in May 2011 as a potential nominee to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the departure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn[12] and delivered the Per Jacobsson Lecture at the BIS in Basel in March 2014, addressing financial crisis management.[5] Zeti concluded her sixteen years of being governor with her final scheduled interest rate announcement in March 2016[13] and officially retired on 30 April 2016, replaced by Muhammad Ibrahim,[14] becoming the second longest-serving governor in the history of Central Bank of Malaysia.[15]
On 16 January 2020, Zeti, as PNB group chairman, announced a new senior management team of 16 personnel, including appointments to key roles such as deputy president, chief investment officer, and group head of the newly established Treasury division.[19] Later that year, on 26 April, she was reported to be among those considered for the Johor State Economic Reform Committee, a body tasked with advising on post-COVID-19 economic recovery and reforms, including the potential establishment of a state digital bank.[20] On 31 December, Zeti publicly denied allegations that she or her family received money from 1MDB, describing the claims as "false and malicious," and stated that she had fully cooperated with investigations by the Central Bank of Malaysia, the police, and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. She noted that she could not comment further due to her status as a potential witness in Najib Razak's ongoing criminal trial.[21]
On 12 April 2021, it was announced that Zeti would retire as Chairman of Sime Darby Property after the company's 48th annual general meeting on 6 May 2021.[22] Later that year, on 29 April, PNB announced that Group Chairman Zeti would retire at the end of her three-year term on 30 April 2021.[23] On 8 December 2022, the Malaysian Court of Appeal dismissed Najib's appeal to obtain banking documents related to Zeti's family for his 1MDB corruptiontrial, ruling that the documents were not relevant to his defence.[24] On 16 August 2023, Zeti testified at the High Court that 1MDB had admitted there were no monies or investments after the central bank imposed a RM15 million fine on the company.[25]
Personal life
Zeti is descended from Roquaiya Hanim through both her paternal and maternal lines. Roquaiya's children with Ungku Abdul Majid included Ungku Abdul Aziz[ms], the sixth Menteri Besar of Johor, and Ungku Abdul Hamid. The latter's son, Ungku Abdul Aziz, became vice-chancellor of UM and was Zeti's father. On her mother's side, Azah Aziz was the daughter of Azizah, another child of Roquaiya.[3] Her father, Ungku Abdul Aziz, was of Malay–Turkish[26][3] and English descent,[27] while her mother, Azah Aziz, belonged to the Alsagoff family of Hadhrami origin.[28] Zeti is married to Tawfiq Ayman,[29] chairman of the Asian Institute of Finance,[6] and they have two children.[30]
Awards, honours and recognitions
Under her leadership as governor of Malaysia's central bank, Zeti received wide recognition. In 2003, she was named Asia's best central bank governor in a poll of regional investors and bankers by Euromoney.[31] The following year, The Banker named her Central Banker of the Year for her role in developing Malaysia's Islamic finance sector and guiding the country's economy toward stable growth.[32] In 2009, Global Finance listed her among the world's best central bank chiefs,[33] and in 2010 she was awarded the title TokohMa'al Hijrah 1432H by the Malaysian government.[34] In 2011, Pesek included her among his top four nominees to head the IMF.[6] Subsequent honours included the Islamic Development Bank's Islamic Banking and Finance Award in 2012;[5] a "Grade A" ranking from Global Finance for the tenth time in 2013;[35][36] the Wharton Dean's Medal in March 2015;[5] a lifetime achievement award from Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2015;[5] and Central Banking’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.[37] In October 2018, she received The Royal Award for Islamic Finance,[38] and later that year the William "Bill" Seidman Award for Lifetime Achievement in Leadership in the Financial Services Industry.[15]
↑ In October 2008, Zeti began chairing the BIS ACC, succeeding Y. V. Reddy,[9] and in 2009 participated in the United Nations task force on financial system reforms.[5]
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