Amir Yaron named as candidate for next Bank of Israel governor

The American-Israeli professor is a graduate of Tel Aviv University and the University of Chicago, and has held his current position since July 2009.

An Israeli flag flutters outside the Bank of Israel building in Jerusalem August 7, 2013 (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
An Israeli flag flutters outside the Bank of Israel building in Jerusalem August 7, 2013
(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
Amir Yaron is one of several candidates being considered for governor of the Bank of Israel, the Prime Minister’s Office and Finance Ministry announced Tuesday.
Yaron, a professor of banking and finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has been interviewed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and could succeed Dr. Karnit Flug who will conclude her five-year term as governor on November 12.
The American-Israeli professor is a graduate of Tel Aviv University and the University of Chicago, and has held his current position since July 2009.
Netanyahu and Kahlon have also interviewed Prof. Ben-Zion Zilberfarb of Bar-Ilan University, Prof. Efraim Sadka of Tel Aviv University, and Prof. Mario Blejer, a former governor of the Central Bank of Argentina, for the position in recent weeks.
In July, Flug informed Netanyahu that she would not be standing as a candidate for an additional term in office.
“I was privileged to head an organization of the highest quality, which works with professionalism, dedication and loyalty,” said Flug.
“On a daily basis, the bank lives up to the vision it set for itself – to be among the most advanced central banks and to contribute to the prosperity of Israel and the welfare of its citizens.”