Shin Hyun Song Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg Photo by Dhiraj Singh /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung nominated Shin Hyun Song, head of the monetary and economic department at the Bank for International Settlements, as the new Bank of Korea governor, the presidential office said. 

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“He is the right person to achieve the monetary policy goals of price stability and national economic growth at a time when uncertainty in the global economy has increased due to the Middle East situation,” Lee’s spokesperson, Lee Kyu-youn, told a briefing Sunday.

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Current BOK Governor Rhee Chang Yong’s term ends April 20, shortly after the monetary policy board meeting on April 10. The new leader, if confirmed, will chair the May meeting and shape policy through 2030. The nominee will first need to go through a parliamentary hearing.

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Shin’s nomination is widely viewed as a step to strengthen macro-financial oversight at a time when South Korea’s sensitivity to capital flows is rising. The nominee’s research on digital finance and systemic risk aligns closely with Seoul’s expanding stablecoin debate and the coming shift to 24-hour won trading.

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The BIS, a Swiss-based organization known as the central bankers’ bank, describes Shin as an “intellectual leader in the fields of banking, international finance and monetary economics.” He had been due to retire from the BIS at the end of August, with Hélène Rey, a professor of economics at the London Business School, appointed as his successor earlier this month.

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Shin received his doctoral degree in economics from Oxford University and taught at Princeton University. In 2010, he served as an adviser to South Korea’s then-President Lee Myung-bak.

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The transition comes at a time when the monetary policy outlook has become more uncertain as the Iran conflict adds fresh risks to both inflation and growth, complicating the bank’s rate path just weeks after its latest policy decision.

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Asia’s fourth-largest economy has been supported by robust semiconductor demand, but the worsening conflict in the Middle East is darkening the outlook for a country heavily reliant on imported energy. Seoul has moved to cap certain fuel prices for the first time in three decades to cushion the impact of higher oil costs, even as a weaker won adds to inflationary pressure.

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“We are in a situation where inflation and an economic slowdown may occur simultaneously. Given that the Bank of Korea’s primary objectives are price and financial stability, it will likely need to prioritize controlling inflation for the time being, regardless of who becomes the next governor,” said Seok Byoung-hoon, economics professor at Ewha Womans University.

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At its last policy meeting, the central bank held its benchmark rate at 2.5% and introduced a new six-month forward guidance framework through which the board signaled expectations that settings would stay unchanged for some time.