Bundesbank's Head steps down


10/21/2021

The Bundesbank said that its leading manager Jens Weidmann is expected to resign on 31 December. The news was surprising: according to his contract, Mr Weidmann was expected to keep the position for at least next five years. Weidmann issued a statement explaining the resignation by "personal reasons".



Chatham House
Weidmann, as head of the Bundesbank and participant in the executive board of the ECB, was seen as very conservative and as a critic of the ECB policy. 

The German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes that Mr. Weidmann's departure could, knowing him, be seen "not as a defection but as a signal of frustration with the way monetary policy is developing" in the face of the strongest inflation in recent years. The media also point out that Mr. Weidmann is leaving office at almost the same time as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and believe that a change of government in Germany may have been a factor in his resignation.

Mr. Weidmann had been head of the Bundesbank since 2011. In 2019 he was seen as the main candidate to head the ECB following Mario Draghi's departure, but the post was eventually taken by Christine Lagarde, who was previously head of the IMF.

source: faz.net