ECB's Schnabel Set to Resign, Triggering Board Reshuffle
ECB board member Isabel Schnabel is expected to resign to join the IMF, setting off a reshuffle involving the presidencies and other top roles.
European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel is expected to announce her resignation on Thursday to take up a position at the International Monetary Fund, according to people familiar with the matter. The move would set in motion a wide-ranging reshuffle of the ECB's most senior leadership posts.
Schnabel, a German national who oversees the ECB's market operations, had been due to remain in her role until the end of 2027. The IMF, however, is keen to appoint a new director of its market department before the end of this year. Both the ECB and the IMF declined to comment.
Her exit comes as the central bank braces for a broader transition at the top. Chief economist Philip Lane is scheduled to leave next May, while President Christine Lagarde is set to depart by next October at the latest. Lagarde has herself been the subject of persistent speculation about an early exit.
The convergence of vacancies suggests that filling Schnabel's seat will form part of a wider political bargain rather than a straightforward appointment. Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France are all competing for influential board positions.
While any country may in principle contest Schnabel's seat, the bloc's three largest economies — Germany, France and Italy — hold what amounts to permanent seats on the board. If Berlin were simply to install another German candidate in her place, it would effectively forgo a claim on the ECB presidency once Lagarde steps down.
That dynamic, sources close to the matter say, makes it likely that any agreement over Schnabel's seat will also encompass the other two forthcoming vacancies. Spain is lobbying for Bank for International Settlements General Manager Pablo Hernandez de Cos to become the next ECB president, while the Netherlands is promoting Klaas Knot, its former central bank chief. Germany had been considering Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel for the presidency, but its commitment appears to have weakened recently and it may pursue a different role.
France, which has already supplied two ECB presidents in Lagarde and Jean-Claude Trichet, is hoping to secure the chief economist position, sources said earlier.