China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, led financial reform

Zhou Xiaochuan has been head of the central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), for almost 10 years but he will turn 65 in January and is due to retire, leaving some very big shoes to fill.

While he doesn't have the political heft that goes with membership of the Communist Party's Politburo, Zhou's expertise and knowledge of monetary issues have made him a key player in the fortunes of the world's second-largest economy.

Foreign Policy magazine ranked him fourth on its Top 100 Global Thinkers list in 2010; Euromoney magazine named him central banker of the year last

September; and he was one of only two mainland officials on Bloomberg Markets' 50 Most Influential list this year.

His successor will step into the job as China struggles to break away from its traditional development mode and move onto a more sustainable track, with banking and finance reform likely to become more important. Meanwhile Zhou's future is also subject to speculation as Beijing's once-in-a-decade leadership transition gets under way.

The favourite to succeed Zhou is the other mainlander on Bloomberg Markets' 50 Most Influential list, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) chairman Jiang Jianqing . Other possibles include Lou Jiwei,  the chairman of China's sovereign wealth fund, and Shang Fulin, the former chief securities regulator who was appointed chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission late last year.

Lu Zhengwei , chief economist at Industrial Bank, said the qualification threshold for a central bank governor was higher now. "He needs to have good academic qualifications, rich experience in policymaking and, most important, political influence to enforce the planned reform measures," Lu said.