Zhu Min, one of the most prominent financial officials in China, is to become a special adviser to the head of the International Monetary Fund in the latest sign of China's increasing voice in global financial institutions.

Mr Zhu has been one of the deputy governors of the Chinese central bank since October. Before that he was a senior executive at Bank of China and spent six years working for the World Bank. His move to the role at the IMF follows the selection in 2008 of Justin Yifu Lin, the Chinese academic, as chief economist of the World Bank.

The appointment comes at a time when China is pushing for a larger role at the IMF and in global economic policymaking. The G20 summit in London last year agreed on a reform of the IMF that would give China a stronger voice.