Jacob A. Frenkel

Jacob A. Frenkel was born in 1943 in Tel Aviv

Jacob Aharon Frenkel was born in Tel Aviv on 8 February 1943. He attended the Zeitlin school.

In 1966 he completed a B.A. in economics and political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He then earned an M.A. in 1969 and a Ph.D. in economics in 1970 at the University of Chicago.

From 1973 to 1987 he taught at the University of Chicago, where he held a chair in international economics and edited the Journal of Political Economy. From 1987 to 1991 he was economic counselor and director of research at the International Monetary Fund.

He was governor of the Bank of Israel for two terms, from 1991 to 2000. He kept interest rates high, which drew criticism over growth and unemployment, while inflation fell to a low level by the end of his term. In 2002 he received the Israel Prize in economics.

He chaired Merrill Lynch International from 2000 to 2004 and was vice chairman of AIG from 2004 to 2009. He then chaired JPMorgan Chase International until the end of 2019. In 2013 he was nominated again as Bank of Israel governor but withdrew after inquiries into a 2006 incident at Hong Kong airport, and he denied any wrongdoing.