Jens Weidmann | |
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| Chair of theBank for International Settlements | |
| In office 1 November 2015 – 31 December 2021 | |
| General Manager | Jaime Caruana Agustín Carstens |
| Preceded by | Christian Noyer |
| Succeeded by | François Villeroy de Galhau |
| 9th President of the German Bundesbank | |
| In office 1 May 2011 – 31 December 2021 | |
| Appointed by | Christian Wulff |
| Preceded by | Axel A. Weber |
| Succeeded by | Joachim Nagel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1968-04-20)20 April 1968 (age 57) |
| Education | Aix-Marseille University University of Paris University of Bonn |
Jens Weidmann (born 20 April 1968) is a German economist who served as president of theDeutsche Bundesbank between 2011 and 2021. He also served as chairman of the Board of theBank for International Settlements (BIS).
Before moving to the Bundesbank, Weidmann served as Head of Division IV (Economic and Financial Policy) in theFederal Chancellery from February 2006. He was thechief negotiator of the Federal Republic of Germany for both the summits of theG8 and theG20.
Weidmann was born inSolingen. In 1987, Weidmann graduated fromgymnasium inBacknang,Baden-Württemberg after which he studied economics atAix-Marseille University, theUniversity of Paris, andUniversity of Bonn. He received hisDiplom in economics in 1993. From 1993 to 1994, he commenced his doctoral studies on European monetary policy under the supervision of professorRoland Vaubel [de] at theUniversity of Mannheim, but later transferred back to Bonn again.[1] He received hisDr. rer. nat. pol. under the auspices of monetary theoristManfred J. M. Neumann [de] in 1997. During his studies Weidmann had internships at theBanque de France and theNational Bank of Rwanda. Due to the resulting knowledge of the French financing sector his later career in German financial politics was welcomed in France and seen as a support of theFranco-German twin engine[citation needed]. His education has been characterized as specialising inmonetarist economics.[2]
From 1997 to 1999, Weidmann worked at theInternational Monetary Fund. Until 2004 he worked as Secretary of theGerman Council of Economic Experts. During his time at the council, he played a key role in compiling a 20-point plan for boosting growth and employment that formed the basis of then-ChancellorGerhard Schröder’sAgenda 2010 reforms.[3]
From there he moved to theBundesbank, where until 2006, he was the head of the Monetary Policy and Monetary Analysis group.
In 2006, Weidmann began working at theFederal Chancellery, where he was responsible for preparing the content and strategy of theG-20 round which was formed to counter the effects of the financial crisis. When he started, he was the youngest department head in the German government.[4] ChancellorAngela Merkel promoted him in December 2009 to the influential role of the Sherpa of the G8 summits[5] as she considers the G8 round to be only a pre-summit of the G20 round in the field of the world-wide financial system as well as that most other subjects need a wider context than the G8 as well (compareHeiligendamm Process for G8+5).
During his time at the Federal Chancellery, Weidmann was involved in a series of major decisions in response to the financial crisis in Germany and Europe: preventing the meltdown of the bankHypo Real Estate, guaranteeing German deposits and implementing a rescue programme for the banking system, piecing together two fiscal-stimulus programmes, and setting up the Greek bail-out package and theEuropean Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).[3]
In 2011, Weidmann suggested to Merkel that the position of Bundesbank vice president, which had also become vacant, be filled bySabine Lautenschläger, then director of Germany'sFederal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).[4]
In February 2011, Weidmann was designated to succeedAxel A. Weber as president of the Deutsche Bundesbank.[6][7][8] In September, with the ongoingEuropean sovereign debt crisis, Weidmann was observed by a British commentator,David Marsh, to be taking a "cool" course relative to Chancellor Merkel. Marsh wrote that Weidmann was saying theEuropean Monetary Union (EMU) "has to go in one of two directions. Either it takes the path of a fiscal union in which member countries fuse together their economic and financial systems into a much more robust framework that will protect them from internal dislocation. Weidmann says, coolly, this is somewhat unlikely. Or EMU remains a looser grouping of countries that will face the discipline of the financial markets if they fail to produce economic convergence," namely exit from the EMU and default, looking particularly at Greece. Marsh also noted that Merkel is committed to the first course and so may come into conflict with her one-time economic adviser Weidmann.[9]
In a late November 2011, speech in Berlin, Weidmann criticized the errors and "many years of wrong developments" of the EMU's peripheral states, particularly the wasted opportunity represented by their "disproportionate investment in private homebuilding, high government spending or private consumption", David Marsh reported.[10] In early December, with another in a string ofEurozone summits imminent,Bloomberg commented that the newECB headMario Draghi "knows he can't afford to repeat" his predecessorJean-Claude Trichet's mistake of alienating the Bundesbank. Draghi was said in the report to be courting Weidmann by, among others, Julian Callow, chief European economist atBarclays inLondon.[11]
In May 2012, Weidmann's stance was characterized by US economist and columnistPaul Krugman as amounting to wanting to destroy the Euro.[12]
Weidmann, in late August 2012, was reported to have threatened to resign asDraghi's July 2012 promise to do "whatever it takes" to save the Euro seemed likely to lead to purchases of Italian and Spanish bonds to keep interest rates in those major member economies capped at manageable levels. "In an interview with Der Spiegel last week, Weidmann said the bond buying made it look as if ECB was financing governments directly — and shouldn't go ahead", reported anotherMarketWatch commentator,Matthew Lynn. Lynn further speculated on the Draghi-Weidmann interaction, reminding readers of Axel Weber's 2011 resignation over a "similar [ECB] scheme" and also of the 1992 failure of theEuropean Exchange Rate Mechanism over German refusal to choose "printing money (taking some small risks with inflation) ... to stabilize the system".[13]
On 24 February 2016, as part of theBundesbank's annual news conference, Weidmann notably dismissed deflation in light of theECB's current stimulus program, pointing out the healthy condition of theGerman economy and that theeuro area is not that bad off, on the eve of the 9–10 March 2016 meetings.[14]
In April 2019, Weidmann's mandate as Bundesbank president was renewed for another eight years.[15] On 31 December 2021, he stepped down, concluding his ten-year tenure five years early.[16]
In early 2022, theInternational Monetary Fund appointed Weidmann to lead a new external panel to strengthen institutional safeguards in the wake of a data scandal involving IMF Managing DirectorKristalina Georgieva during her time at theWorld Bank.[17]
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