Zaken is the former Supervisor of banks and a member of the Bank of Israel’s senior management – responsible for stability and resilience of the Israeli banking system, banks’ conduct of business and accounting for banks. As part of this position, he served in several public committees and among others a member of the Committee for Increasing Competition in the Israeli Economy and a member of the Financial Stability Board, regional consultative group for Europe. Before being appointed the Supervisor position, he served as a deputy supervisor head of licensing and off-site examination department.
During his 25 years tenure at the Bank of Israel, Zaken specialized in banking research, financial risks management, anti-money laundering, corporate governance and banking regulation. Zaken Led reforms in the areas of Basel III and strengthening the resilience of the banking system, business continuity and its cyber protection, reforms to increased competition in the banking industry, and macro-prudential regulation in the mortgage market.
Currently, he is an independent economic consultant, expertise in banking, regulation and risk management, a member of Investment and Credit Committees of Amitim pension funds and teaching banking course at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Zaken holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and statistics and a master degree in business administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.