Isabel Schnabel to quit ECB board early for IMF post
Schnabel will step down on 3 January 2027, before her eight-year term ends, to take a senior role at the International Monetary Fund.
Published
Isabel Schnabel will resign from the European Central Bank's board on 3 January 2027, leaving before her eight-year term was due to end at the close of 2027.
Schnabel has been selected as director of the IMF's monetary and capital markets department, according to Bloomberg. The IMF wanted to fill the post by the end of this year, Reuters reported, which is why the move is happening ahead of schedule. The department has been without a permanent head since Tobias Adrian left on 31 August 2026, Reuters reported via Global Banking and Finance.
Schnabel currently leads the ECB's market operations. Her exit is expected to set off a wider reshuffle at the top of the ECB, Reuters reported, with chief economist Philip Lane also due to leave next May and President Christine Lagarde facing persistent, unconfirmed talk of her own departure. Spain is said to back Pablo Hernandez de Cos and the Netherlands is said to back Klaas Knot as possible candidates in that reshuffle, according to Global Banking and Finance.
Her departure removes a hawkish voice from ECB deliberations just as markets are pricing in four rate increases through the end of the year. The timing is distant enough that it poses no immediate constraint on near-term policy decisions, which remain under Lagarde's leadership.