On 6 September 2015 the Board of Directors of the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS) elected Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann as its new Chairman. His three-year term of office will begin on 1 November. President Weidmann is the first German citizen to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BIS, which was founded in 1930.

He is succeeding Christian Noyer, who will retire as governor of the Banque de France on 31 October 2015. Mr Noyer became Chairman of the Board of Directors in March 2010 and is currently serving his second term.

"The central banks' central bank"

The BIS, also known as "the central bank’s central bank", is the world’s oldest international financial institution. The Bundesbank is one of currently 60 member institutions.

The Board of Directors determines the strategic and policy direction of the BIS. It also supervises BIS management. It meets at least six times a year. Its composition includes six ex officio members – the central bank governors of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each of these members may appoint another member of the same nationality to the Board. Pursuant to the BIS statues, up to nine governors of other member central banks may be elected to the Board of Directors.