Malaysian Financial Minister Lim Guan Eng (R, front) and Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus (L, front) arrive for a press conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia, June 22, 2018. Malaysia on Friday confirmed the appointment of Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus as the country's new central bank governor, effective from July 1. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung)

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia on Friday confirmed the appointment of Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus as the country's new central bank governor, effective from July 1.

Malaysian Financial Minister Lim Guan Eng told a press conference that the king had consented to the recommendation of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to appoint Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)'s new governor for a term of five years effective from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023.

The appointment came after the resignation of the bank's former governor Muhammad Ibrahim, who was said to have been involved in a controversial land deal that linked with 1MDB scandal.

Shamsiah was previously the deputy governor of BNM from 2010 until 2016. She recently served as assistant director of the monetary and capital markets division of the International Monetary Fund.

As deputy governor, Shamsiah was responsible for banking, insurance and Takaful (Islamic Insurance) supervision, financial intelligence and enforcement, talent management, finance and shared services of the central bank.

Shamsiah joined BNM in 1987 and has served in various areas including prudential regulations, legislation, policies and guidelines for the financial sector and supervision. She was involved in the financial sector resolution initiatives during the Asian financial crisis. She played a key role in the formulation and implementation of the Financial Sector Masterplan (2001-2010) and Financial Sector Blueprint (2011-2020) that charts the development of the Malaysian financial system.

"BNM will continue to focus on delivering its mandate of maintaining the monetary and financial stability in the best interest of the nation," said Shamsiah at the press conference, adding that she will discuss with BNM's present team next month to decide the bank's priorities going forward.