Frenkel is currently the chairman of
JPMorgan Chase International, which executes the international strategy of the American financial services firm. He also serves as chairman and CEO of the
Group of Thirty (G-30), which is a private, nonprofit, consultative group on international economic and monetary affairs. Frenkel served from 2004 to 2009 as vice chairman of
American International Group (AIG) and from 2000 to 2004 as chairman of
Merrill Lynch International, as well as chairman of Merrill Lynch’s Sovereign Advisory and Global Financial Institutions Groups. Between 1991 and 2000 he served two terms as the governor of the
Bank of Israel. He is credited with reducing inflation in
Israel and achieving price stability, liberalizing Israel’s financial markets, removing
foreign exchange controls, and integrating the Israeli economy into the
global financial system. During 1995–1996, Frenkel served as chairman of the board of governors of the
Inter-American Development Bank and, during 1999–2000, as vice chairman of the board of governors of the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Between 1987 and 1991, he was the economic counselor and director of research at the
International Monetary Fund, and between 1973 and 1987 he was on the faculty of the
University of Chicago, where he held the position of the David Rockefeller Professor of International Economics and served as editor of the
Journal of Political Economy. He is a fellow of the
Econometric Society, a foreign honorary member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the board of directors of the
National Bureau of Economic Research, a former member of the international advisory board of the
Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the
Trilateral Commission, a member of the board of the council for the United States and Italy, a member of the investment advisory council of the
Prime Minister of Turkey, and a member of the international advisory council of the
China Development Bank. He is also a member of the board of directors of the
Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics. In June 2013 he was nominated to be the governor of the Bank of Israel for a second time. In July 2013, following official inquiries into an event that took place in Hong Kong Airport in November 2006, he withdrew his nomination. Frankel denied any wrongdoing but authorities in
Hong Kong stated that he had been arrested at the airport for suspected theft of a suit bag from a
duty-free shop. Frenkel did not disclose the incident to the Committee on Senior Appointments, which vetted his nomination for a new governor of the Bank of Israel. ==Other activities==