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Monday August 20, 3:53 PM FACTBOX-Profiles of Bank of Japan Policy Board members Aug 20 (Reuters) - Following are profiles of the nine BOJ policy board members: TOSHIHIKO FUKUI, 71, governor Fukui, a career central banker except for a short stint in the private sector, is the main driver of the bank's monetary policy. Fukui is seen by some investors as one of the most hawkish members of the board. Since raising interest rates to a decade-high 0.50 percent in February, Fukui has repeated that the bank will gradually raise rates in line with improvements in economic and price conditions. Fukui has underlined the need for rate hikes despite tame price growth, stressing that prices are expected to rise in the long run and the BOJ needs to keep on top of inflation. He has warned that if people think interest rates will be kept low for a long time despite economic improvements it could cause large swings in the economy in the future and distort the allocation of funds. His term expires next March. TOSHIRO MUTO, 64, deputy governor Muto, a former finance ministry bureaucrat, has worked closely with Fukui since he joined the central bank in 2003. Muto has been seen as a leading candidate to succeed Fukui but that is in doubt after an upper house election last month was won by the main opposition Democratic Party, which once branded him as unfit to be a central banker. His term as deputy governor expires next March and the upper house has the power to block any elevation to governor. Muto has mostly stuck to the middle ground on monetary policy, rarely straying from the bank's official line. In early July, Muto said the BOJ had no preset schedule on the pace of future interest rates hikes. He said in late June that the bank would closely watch currency moves. KAZUMASA IWATA, 60, deputy governor Iwata, a former economics professor at the University of Tokyo, is widely seen as a policy dove. He voted against the BOJ's decision in February to raise rates to 0.50 percent, becoming the first deputy governor to vote against a proposal by the governor. Iwata later said he voted against the February rate hike because of uncertainty over the outlook for prices and softness in consumption at the time. His term expires in March 2008. HIDETOSHI KAMEZAKI, 64 Kamezaki, a former senior executive vice president of Mitsubishi Corp., joined the board in April. He has broad experience in overseas business at the trading house. Kamezaki said in a newspaper interview in late June that the bank should take action promptly once it confirmed that growth was set to continue. ATSUSHI MIZUNO, 48 A well-known bond strategist before joining the BOJ and the youngest member of the board, Mizuno is widely seen as a policy hawk. Mizuno was the sole dissenter in the policy board's decision to keep rates unchanged in July, instead calling for a rate rise. He was also one of three board members who voted against the bank's decision to hold rates steady in January. SEIJI NAKAMURA, 65 Nakamura, who joined the BOJ board in April, was formerly president of MOL Ferry Co. Ltd., a unit of Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines. His career was mostly in the finance and planning sections of Mitsui OSK. In a newspaper interview in late June, Nakamura toed the bank's standard line that the central bank had no predetermined schedule in mind for rate hikes. KIYOHIKO NISHIMURA, 54 A former University of Tokyo professor and a statistics expert, Nishimura has always backed Fukui's proposals to the bank's policy board since he joined the board in 2005. Nishimura said in early July that the bank should not wait too long to raise interest rates, while stressing that the bank's rate hikes did not necessarily come at fixed intervals. TADAO NODA, 60 Noda, a banking industry veteran, was among the three board members who voted against keeping rates steady in January, calling instead for a rate hike. He surprised financial markets by voting against Fukui's proposal to raise the Lombard standby lending rate to 0.4 percent last July at his debut policy meeting, as he wanted a higher rate. In late July, Noda said the BOJ must be convinced of the nation's economic strength before it raised interest rates, because of uncertainty over consumer price trends. MIYAKO SUDA, 59 A former economics professor, Suda was among the three board members who voted against the central bank's decision to keep rates steady in January, calling for a rate hike instead. She also opposed the main economic assessment in the bank's monthly report for January, calling for a more upbeat view on private consumption. Seen as a hawk, Suda said in January that the BOJ should not hesitate to raise interest rates if it was convinced the economy is moving in line with its scenario. She was reappointed to a second five-year term on the board in April 2006.