Women in central banking

This panel discussion is part of a series of high-level webinars that were livestreamed on our website from 23 to 28 June 2021.

Efforts are under way at central banks worldwide to improve gender diversity. Yet much remains to be done in what has traditionally been a male-dominated sector. The pandemic has highlighted the need for further action as it has adversely affected women in particular. This panel will assess the current state of affairs and discuss how to enhance ongoing diversity initiatives in central banks.

Panel

Cecilia Skingsley
First Deputy Governor of Sveriges Riksbank (moderator)

Cecilia Skingsley was appointed First Deputy Governor in November 2019 after serving as Deputy Governor since 2013.

Before joining Sveriges Riksbank, Ms Skingsley was Chief Economist at Swedbank and also worked at Dagens industri, ABN Amro Bank and the Ministry of Finance.

Ms Skingsley represents the Riksbank on the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and on the Euro Retail Payments Board. She is also the Governor of the Riksbank's alternate on the General Council of the ECB and is a member of the Advisory Technical Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board.

In addition, Ms Skingsley chairs the retail payments council, the cash management advisory board and is a member of the Financial Stability Council. She holds a BA in Economics and Political Science and a financial analyst diploma.

Andréa M Maechler
Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank

Ms Maechler has served as Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank since 1 July 2015 – the first woman to occupy a Board position. She is also Head of Department III (Financial Markets, Banking Operations and Information Technology).

Her early career took her to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the World Trade Organization. From 1999 to 2001, she worked as an economist at the Swiss National Bank in Zurich. She then moved to the International Monetary Fund, where she occupied a number of senior positions in the Africa, Monetary and Capital Markets, Western Hemisphere and Strategy, Policy and Review departments. From 2012 to 2014, during a sabbatical from the IMF, she worked for the European Systemic Risk Board in Frankfurt. Upon returning to the IMF, she was appointed Deputy Division Chief in the Global Markets Analysis Division.

Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus
Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia

Ms Nor Shamsiah is the ninth Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, assuming office on 1 July 2018. She chairs the Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Stability Committee, Financial Stability Executive Committee and the BNM's Board of Directors.

Ms Nor Shamsiah joined the Central Bank of Malaysia in 1987 and has served in areas including prudential regulations, financial intelligence and enforcement, talent management, finance and supervision. She was involved in the financial sector resolution initiatives during the Asian financial crisis. As Deputy Governor, she also represented the central bank in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Action Task Force. She also served as Assistant Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Division of the International Monetary Fund.

Ms Nor Shamsiah graduated from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in Accountancy and is a Certified Practising Accountant.

Claudia Buch
Vice President of the Deutsche Bundesbank

Professor Claudia Buch, who joined the Bundesbank in 2014, is Vice-President of the Deutsche Bundesbank and head of its Directorates General Financial Stability, Statistics and Internal Audit. She is the Bundesbank's G20 and G7 Central Bank Deputy and a member of the German Financial Stability Committee.

Before joining the Bundesbank, Claudia Buch was President of the Halle Institute for Economic Research and Professor of Economics at Otto von Guericke University and Eberhard Karls University.

She previously chaired the Scientific Advisory Council at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Technology and was a member of the German Council of Economic Experts. Her posts have also included Scientific Director at the Institute for Applied Economic Research and researcher at the Institut für Weltwirtschaft in Kiel. Claudia Buch was awarded a PhD and her habilitation (post-doctorate degree) by the University of Kiel and studied Economics at the University of Bonn.