German Government Chooses Joachim Nagel to Head Central Bank

Then Bundesbank board member Joachim Nagel at the annual press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Feb. 24, 2016. Michael Probst/AP Photo

BERLIN—The new German government has chosen an experienced central banker and former board member of Germany’s state-owned development bank to head the country’s central bank, the finance minister said Monday.

Joachim Nagel will succeed Jens Weidmann, who announced in October that he would step down at the end of the year after a decade as the Bundesbank’s president, citing personal reasons.

National central bank governors in the 19 countries using the euro have a seat on the European Central Bank’s governing council. In that position, Weidmann has been the chief skeptic of expansive stimulus policies, such as bond purchases.

The President of the German Bundesbank Jens Weidmann (R) and then board member Joachim Nagel (L) on their way to the annual press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Feb. 24, 2016. Michael Probst/AP Photo

Nagel is deputy head of banking at the Bank for International Settlements, an international association of central banks. He was appointed to that job in November 2020.

He previously served on the Bundesbank’s executive board and on the board of Germany’s state-owned KfW development bank.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner wrote on Twitter that he and Chancellor Olaf Scholz are nominating Nagel as “an experienced personality who assures continuity at the Bundesbank.”

“In view of inflation risks, the significance of stability-oriented monetary policy is growing,” he said.