Riad Salameh
Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon

Riad Salameh was born on July 17, 1950 in Beirut, Lebanon and is the son of Toufic and Renee (Romanos) Salameh.

He attended the Jesuits’ College of Notre Dame de Jamhour and graduated with a BA degree in Economics from the American University of Beirut.

In 1985 he became a Vice-President and Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch in Paris after a long career in their Beirut and Paris offices from 1973 - 1993.

On August 1, 1993 he was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon for a six-year term and was reappointed for two further terms in 1999 and 2005. Governor Salameh manages all aspects of the Central Bank and is assisted by four vice-governors and the Central Council.

His primary function is to preserve the currency and maintain its stability in order to achieve sustained social and economic growth. He is also the Chairman of the Special Investigation Commission fighting money laundering since its establishment in 2001.

Governor Salameh received numerous awards including the 1996 Euromoney Award as the best Central Bank Governor in the Arab world; the 1997 Knight of the Legion of Honor bestowed on him by French President Jacques Chirac; the 2003 Euromoney Award’s Man of the Year as the Best Central Bank Governor; the 2004 Shield Award from Bankers for a Better Future, an international academic banking organization, upon his selection as one of the best 20 Central Bank Governors in the world; the 2005 Euromoney Award for Emerging Markets as the Best Central Bank Governor in the Middle East and the 2006 Euromoney Award as the best Central Bank Governor in the world.