Status: 03.12.2021 2 p.m.
The decision about the top position at the Deutsche Bundesbank could soon be made. According to a newspaper report, it is apparently down to economist Joachim Nagel.
According to a newspaper report, the economist Joachim Nagel has a good chance of succeeding Jens Weidmann at the helm of the Deutsche Bundesbank. As the “Financial Times” (FT) reports, citing a person who is directly familiar with the process, the 55-year-old is the “preferred candidate” of the future government.
The other candidates, who were previously traded as successors, are no longer in the running, the paper continues. A spokesman for Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz declined to comment on the report.
Nagel is a member of the SPD himself
So far, in addition to Nagel, State Secretary for Finance Jörg Kukies and ECB Director Isabel Schnabel have been traded as successors. According to the “Handelsblatt” newspaper, Kukies is no longer an option for the post: He is too important for the designated head of government Scholz in the Chancellery. According to “FT” information, Schnabel will probably not leave the ECB for the time being.
Nagel is himself a member of the SPD and did his doctorate at the University of Karlsruhe. For 17 years he worked for the German central bank in various positions – for six years he was a member of the board. During this time he was critical of the bond purchases of the European Central Bank (ECB). This is likely to meet with approval, especially from the FDP. On the management board, Nagel was most recently responsible for the important area of markets and thus for the concrete implementation of monetary policy. He also headed the Bundesbank’s crisis team.
Well networked in Europe
In 2016, the economist left the Bundesbank and switched to the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), where he joined the board in 2017. There he was responsible for promoting developing and emerging countries. Last year he finally moved to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, which is an important think tank for international monetary policy. At the BIS he is currently Deputy Head of the Banking Department.
Nagel is considered to be well-wired on the European floor. For example, he represented Germany on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Finance in the expert group on the development of the Capital Markets Union in the EU.