Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has appointed Joachim Nagel President of the Deutsche Bundesbank. Mr Steinmeier presented the certificate of appointment to Mr Nagel at Schloss Bellevue on 7 January. The 55-year-old economist will take office for a period of eight years. The ceremony marking the change of office for the tenth President of the Bundesbank will take place on 11 January in Frankfurt and will be streamed live on the Bundesbank’s website. Alongside Mr Nagel and his predecessor Jens Weidmann, speakers are expected to include ECB President Christine Lagarde and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner. 

In October 2021, Mr Weidmann announced that, after more than ten years in office, he would be resigning on 31 December. 

Mr Nagel, who was born on 31 May 1966 in Karlsruhe, most recently held the role of Deputy Head of Banking at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel. Before this, he was a member of the Executive Board of KfW Group from 2017 to 2020, where he was responsible for the promotion of developing countries and emerging economies. 

Return to the Bundesbank

Prior to this, Mr Nagel had already worked at the Bundesbank for 17 years, 6 of them as a member of the Executive Board. Having obtained a PhD in economics, Mr Nagel spent his first few years at the former Land Central Bank in Hanover before transferring to the Bundesbank's Central Office in Frankfurt am Main in 2003. In February 2008 he was appointed Director General Markets. In December 2010, Mr Nagel then became a member of the Bundesbank’s Executive Board, where he was responsible, amongst other things, for the Directorates General Markets and Information Technology before resigning ahead of schedule to join the KfW Group.

Nomination by Federal Government

The President of the Bundesbank heads the Executive Board of Germany’s central bank. The Federal Government of the day decides who will take on the role of Bundesbank President by nominating a candidate. Joachim Nagel was nominated by the Federal Cabinet in December 2021. Subsequently, the Bundesbank’s Executive Board was consulted, in accordance with the Bundesbank Act, before the nomination was presented to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. The formal appointment is made by the Federal President, usually for an eight-year term of office. On the proposal of the Federal Government, a further term of office may follow – as was the case for Mr Weidmann in 2019.

A seat and a vote in the ECB Governing Council

The Bundesbank President has a seat in the ECB Governing Council and has a say in the monetary policy of the euro area. The Bundesbank is independent of and not subject to instructions from the Federal Government. However, in an advisory capacity, the Bundesbank President and one other member of the Executive Board regularly attend meetings of the Federal Cabinet on the adoption of the draft central government budget and the Annual Economic Report.

International tasks

The Bundesbank President also represents the Bundesbank internationally. At the BIS, the governors of 63 central banks – including the President of Germany’s central bank, who is also a member of the BIS Board of Directors – meet regularly to discuss economic and financial market issues as well as financial stability. The Bundesbank President is also a member of the International Monetary Fund’s Board of Governors, the IMF’s highest decision-making body in which all 189 member countries are represented. The Federal Finance Minister serves as the Bundesbank President’s alternate there.

In addition, the Bundesbank President takes part in the regular meetings of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. Furthermore, the Bundesbank is represented by its President at meetings of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors.