Lhu Hoo-kyu was appointed the next director of the South East Asian Central Banks Centre based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Lhu, who served as director of the Financial Systems Stability Department at the Bank of Korea, will be the first BOK member to head a major regional financial organization, starting from this July for a three-year term.

The appointment came as the BOK successfully hosted the 47th Conference of the Governors of SEACEN, High-Level Seminar and 31st Meeting of the SEACEN Board of Governors Feb. 13-14 in Seoul. 

BOK Gov. Kim Choong-soo expressed his gratitude to SEACEN members for the appointment of Lhu at the conference on Tuesday, pledging to promote cooperation with the member countries further.

Lhu joined the BOK in 1977 after graduating from Seoul National University majoring in economics. He worked at various departments at the central bank including research and international divisions, as well as the bank’s New York office.

The SEACEN Centre, established in 1982, has 17 members including the BOK and reviews and analyzes financial, monetary, banking and economic developments in its member countries and in the region as a whole.

Since 2001, the center has been focused on training in areas such as monetary policy, banking supervision and payments and settlement systems.

By Yang Sung-jin (insight@heraldcorp.com)