Central Banks

Former First Republic Star Erkan Nabs Top Job Back in Turkey

Hafize Gaye Erkan is the first woman atop Turkey central bank
She left First Republic as co-CEO 16 months before its failure

Hafize Gaye Erkan
Source: Central Bank of Republic of Turkey

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By Max Abelson, Max Reyes, and Scarlet Fu

July 25, 2023 at 2:07 AM EDT

This article is for subscribers only.

Hafize Gaye Erkan rose just about as high as you can on Wall Street.

The co-head of First Republic Bank left about a year and a half before its collapse, ran another finance firm, then exited when its plans to buy a bank didn’t pan out. Now, freshly installed as the first woman to run Turkey’s central bank, she’s surprising investors with her plans to shape one of the world’s biggest economies.