FinancialTrading.com’s 10 Most Influential People in Finance

3. Zhou Xiaochuan

Zhou Xiaochuan is the governor of the People’s Bank of China, the central bank of China, a position he has held since 2002 and was reappointed to in March of this year. With many of the worlds nations currently in debt to or otherwise influenced by the Chinese government, Zhou Xiaochuan holds an awful lot of sway. While he is famous for his motto of “if the market can solve the problem, let the market do it. I am just a referee. I am neither a sportsman nor a coach”, the People’s Bank of China under his guidance have become famous for their weekend policy alterations.

These alterations are often just fine tuning of current policies to ensure the long term stability and overall efficiency of the country’s economy but regularly make headlines in western financial publications and affect the markets in a big way.