Japan government taps Shinsei Bank executive Masai for BOJ board
By Sumio Ito and Leika Kihara
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government has nominated Takako Masai, an executive at Shinsei Bank Ltd <8303.T> and an advocate of aggressive monetary easing, to join the Bank of Japan's policy board.
Masai, a 51-year-old executive officer of the Japanese commercial bank and an expert on currency markets, would replace former commercial banker Koji Ishida, whose term expires in June, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.
The appointment means the BOJ's nine-member board will once again include a female, having been left with none after former International Monetary Fund economist Sayuri Shirai's term ended in March.
The departure of Ishida, who voted against the BOJ's decision to deploy negative interest rates in January, would give Governor Haruhiko Kuroda a stronger grip of the board if he were to expand monetary stimulus further.
Market players welcomed the choice of Masai, saying she will have a balanced approach on monetary policy and bring to the central bank expertise on financial markets and banking affairs.
"The government seems to have taken a balanced approach with this appointment, as it could have chosen someone with more radical views on monetary policy," said Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JP Morgan Securities.
As a currency expert at Shinsei, Masai had in the past indicated support for the BOJ's aggressive monetary easing, including the introduction of negative interest rates, which she says has helped the economy and stabilised financial markets.
"The dollar/yen and stock prices would have fallen more had the BOJ not acted in January," Masai told Reuters in February.
"The key channel currency markets look at in terms of monetary policy is how much real interest rates fall," she said, a view in line with the BOJ's current approach to assessing the impact of policy on borrowing rates.
Masai also said she supports Kuroda's style of shocking markets with unexpected policy changes, which she attributes to the governor's previous experience as a top currency diplomat overseeing Japan's exchange rate policy.
"Mr. Kuroda's approach is that of a former currency diplomat," she said. "You don't offer articulate guidance when you do currency intervention."
(Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko and Stanley White; Editing by Sam Holmes and Jacqueline Wong)
