Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz remains tight-lipped amid speculation on who would become her successor.

“Just be patient. Very soon,” she replied curtly, when reporters in Kuala Lumpur swarmed around her to ask why hasn’t there been any announcement following her meeting with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak yesterday.

She declined to comment when the names of several speculated candidates were put to her by reporters.

Zeti also reiterated that Bank Negara’s governance committee has already made recommendations on who should be her successor.

“It (the committee) is made of independent directors. They have submitted their recommendations and the government will make a decision and submit the name of their decision to the Agong,” she said.

The well-respected central banker has helmed Bank Negara for 16 years, and is due to retire in May.

She has been under an intensified international media spotlight of late, due to Bank Negara’s role in investigating potential breaches in banking regulations in the 1MDB saga, and aiding other agencies in their own investigations.

Zeti has consistently declined on comment on the matter, including when asked today whether attorney-general Mohd Apandi Ali’s statement that Najib has no case to answer is true.

Meanwhile, Zeti said the meeting in Putrajaya yesterday was a briefing ahead of the release of Bank Negara’s annual report.

She said the meeting took two hours, and she spent three-quarters of it in making her presentations.

“(It was) about our assessments, our policies, and how we can build our resilience for the future, not just for the current day,” she said.