Central Bank of Iceland hires new director
Sigríður Benediktsdóttir has been engaged to direct the Financial Stability Department of the Central Bank of Iceland. Sigríður received a BS in economics from the University of Iceland in 1995 and a BS in computer science from the same school in 1998. She completed her doctoral degree in economics at Yale University in May 2005.
Since 2007, Sigríður has taught at Yale University and served as assistant to the chair of the Economics Department. Concurrent with that work, she has carried out research in the field of financial economics, with a focus on financial markets. She worked as an economist for the US Federal Reserve Bank in the United States from 2005-2007 and as a project manager and advisor for Hugvit hf. from 1997-1998. Sigríður was employed by the Icelandic Institute of Economic Studies from 1995-1997, and she was a summer employee of the Central Bank of Iceland during the summers of 1992, 1993, and 1995. She was appointed to the Parliamentary Special Investigation Commission on the Icelandic banking collapse in 2008.
The decision to select Sigríður was based on her experience and her knowledge of finance and economics, both practical and theoretical, and the extensive knowledge she has acquired in her work with the Parliamentary Special Investigation Commission.
The Financial Stability Department is a new department within the Central Bank of Iceland, created by the division of the current Financial Stability Department into two units, Financial Stability and Payment Systems. The department’s main tasks centre on analysis of financial system risk and participation in the formulation of precautionary rules for the financial system. The department participates in policy-making concerning both financial system structure and the objectives, tools, and structure of financial stability in Iceland. It interacts closely with the institutions involved with financial stability in Iceland, particularly the Financial Supervisory Authority, and participates in extensive international cooperation.