Always nice to have an "inside" man looking out for you in the West, where they keep all the money.
Israel Asks Citigroup Official to Run Its Bank
nytimes.com
January 10, 2005
TEL AVIV, Jan. 9 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israel's finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, chose Stanley Fischer, a vice chairman at Citigroup, on Sunday as their candidate for governor of the Bank of Israel, a spokeswoman for the prime minister's office said.
The recommendation is subject to approval by a special committee that oversees the appointment of senior officials.
Mr. Fischer, 61, an American Jew, was formerly deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund.
"The prime minister and finance minister proposed to him several weeks ago to move to Israel, receive Israeli citizenship and be appointed Bank of Israel governor," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
"This morning, Fischer notified us that he agreed," it said.
David Klein's five-year term as the bank's governor ends on Sunday.
There are several obstacles to Mr. Fischer becoming Bank of Israel governor.
For example, the committee might require Mr. Fischer, a naturalized American citizen who was born in Zambia, to give up his United States citizenship.
The prime minister's statement said that Mr. Fischer spoke (little) Hebrew and had a history of ties with Israel.
In the 1980's, he was involved on behalf of the American government in Israel's economic stability plan and has previously taught at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. |
