The International Monetary Fund selected Isabel Schnabel as its next financial counsellor and director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department. Her appointment is due to take effect on 4 January 2027. Schnabel is currently an Executive Board member of the European Central Bank and sits on its rate-setting Governing Council.
Her ECB term had been due to run until the end of 2027. Moving to the Fund therefore brings forward one part of a broader series of leadership changes expected at the eurozone central bank.
MARKETS AND STABILITY REMIT
Schnabel will lead the IMF department responsible for work on monetary and macroprudential policy, financial markets and stability. The department also produces the Fund's Global Financial Stability Report and contributes to financial-sector surveillance across its membership.
At the ECB, Schnabel has overseen market operations, research and statistics. ECB President Christine Lagarde said she had contributed enormously to the modernisation of the ECB's operations. She joined the ECB Executive Board in January 2020, and Lagarde said she had played a key role in the ECB’s determination to stabilise inflation at its 2% medium-term target.
EXPERIENCE ACROSS POLICY AND SUPERVISION
Before joining the ECB, Schnabel served on the German Council of Economic Experts, was vice-chair of the European Systemic Risk Board's Advisory Scientific Committee and chaired the advisory board of German supervisor BaFin. She is also a professor of financial economics at the University of Bonn (currently on leave) and holds a doctorate from the University of Mannheim.
Schnabel will step down from the ECB on 3 January 2027 and start at the Fund on 4 January. Her successor on the ECB Executive Board will be appointed by the European Council.