Masaru Hayami, who as governor of the Bank of Japan employed unprecedented zero-interest-rate policies and brought quantitative monetary easing to the fore to address financial crises, died May 16, his family said May 17. He was 84.

Masaru Hayami KYODO PHOTO

Hayami served as the 28th BOJ chief between March 1998 and March 2003, during a time when the economy was jolted by the collapse of a number of financial institutions brought down by bad loans.

His family did not disclose the cause of death.

Hayami was the first central bank chief to serve under the new Bank of Japan Law, which came into force in 1998 and gave the BOJ more independence from the government.