Joachim Nagel, president of the Bundesbank, considers himself suitable to succeed Christine Lagarde as ECB head. In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, he discusses his ambitions and warns of risks in financial markets. Lagarde's term ends in 2027.
Joachim Nagel, president of the German Bundesbank, has made clear in an interview with DER SPIEGEL that he considers himself suitable to succeed Christine Lagarde as ECB president. "In principle, every central banker in the ECB Governing Council should have the competence for the top position in the Eurosystem. And external candidacies with other profiles also have chances," Nagel said. He emphasized that anchoring the Bundesbank firmly in the Eurosystem had been one of his goals, which he had achieved. No German has yet been ECB president.
The term of the current ECB President Christine Lagarde ends in October 2027. Vice President Luis de Guindos will already leave the Executive Board in May 2026. The debate on Lagarde's successor is already underway, although the final decision will only be made in 2027.
In addition to his ambitions, Nagel expressed concerns about stock markets. These are rushing from record to record, driven by US tech companies investing hundreds of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence (AI). "The prices are also a bet on permanently high or further rising profits. We have seen in the past that such expectations do not always come true. As central bankers, we are very attentive there," he warned. Nagel advised investors to diversify: "Investors should diversify sufficiently. It should be clear to everyone that valuations can also fall."
Similar concerns apply to the boom in private credit funds, whose volume is estimated at over 1.7 trillion dollars. These funds bypass traditional banks and often operate opaquely in tax havens. "This market is opaque and has the potential to cause unrest in financial markets. We need a better international data base to better identify and assess the risks there," Nagel said.
He firmly opposed deregulation like in the US. "A deregulation race would be wrong. The 1980s already showed that when US financial markets were deregulated and many financial institutions collapsed as a result," he explained. Europe should stick to its banking regulation to maintain financial stability, which is a locational advantage in uncertain times.