(LEAD) Lee taps BIS official Shin Hyun-song as BOK chief

▲ This photo provided by Cheong Wa Dae shows Shin Hyun-song, the nominee for governor of the Bank of Korea. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) BOK chief-nomination

(LEAD) Lee taps BIS official Shin Hyun-song as BOK chief

(ATTN: UPDATES with details)

SEOUL, March 22 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday nominated Shin Hyun-song, an official of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), as the new governor of the Bank of Korea (BOK), his office said.

Shin, who would replace current Gov. Rhee Chang-yong at the end of his four-year term in April, is a leading expert on international finance and macroeconomics equipped with both academic depth and practical insight, a presidential spokesperson said.

"He is the right person to simultaneously achieve the monetary policy goals of price stability and growth of the people's economy at a time when global economic uncertainty has increased due to the situation in the Middle East," Lee Kyu-youn, senior presidential secretary for public relations and communication, said during a press briefing.

Shin is head of the monetary and economic department at the BIS. His academic background includes professorships at Princeton University, the London School of Economics and his alma mater, Oxford University.

In addition, the nominee served as a member of the Financial Advisory Roundtable at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and adviser for international economic affairs to former President Lee Myung-bak in 2010.

While Shin will be required to undergo a parliamentary confirmation hearing, the procedure is widely seen as a formality because his formal appointment does not require the endorsement of the National Assembly.

The BOK kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.5 percent in its latest rate-setting meeting held late last month, marking the sixth consecutive on-hold decision, as it sought to ensure financial stability amid a weak local currency and an unstable housing market despite stronger-than-expected growth momentum.

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