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Sabine Lautenschläger

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Sabine Lautenschläger
Lautenschläger in 2018
Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank
In office
27 January 2014 – 31 October 2019
Preceded byJörg Asmussen
Succeeded byIsabel Schnabel
Personal details
Born (1964-06-03) 3 June 1964 (age 60)
Stuttgart, West Germany (now Germany)
EducationUniversity of Bonn

Sabine Lautenschläger (born 3 June 1964) is a German jurist who served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 2014 to 2019.[1][2] She previously served as vice-president of the Deutsche Bundesbank from 2011 to 2013.[3]

In 2022, Lautenschläger joined the Covington’s Frankfurt law firm as Senior Advisor.[4]

Education and early career

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Lautenschläger graduated with a Staatsexamen from the University of Bonn in 1990.[3] She began her career on banking supervision in 1995 at the Federal Banking Supervisory Office, the predecessor to today's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). She served there as a member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision between 2008 and early 2014.[5]

Vice President of Bundesbank, 2011–2013

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Lautenschläger was appointed as vice president of the Bundesbank in 2011,[5] the first woman to hold that position.[6] In that capacity, she was in charge of banking and financial supervision.[7] She also served as member of the Financial Stability Committee of the European System of Central Banks between 2012 and early 2014.[citation needed]

During her time at Bundesbank, Lautenschläger pushed for the ECB's stress tests on bank assets to be tough and credible, while calling for the euro region's prospective bank resolution mechanism to have a strong legal basis.[5] She has been among those who have warned about potential conflicts of interest when the ECB has responsibility for both monetary policy and banking supervision. She has argued against treating government bonds as risk-free assets on banks' books.[8] She was also known for her warnings on the risks of keeping interest rates too low for too long.[5]

In line with the Bundesbank board, Lautenschläger consistently opposed the ECB's bond-buying plan, known as Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT).[9]

Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, 2014–2019

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Lautenschläger was nominated by the German government as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank in December 2013, succeeding Jörg Asmussen. At the time, Claudia Maria Buch and Elke König were cited by German media as contenders for the post.[10] The eurozone governments were under pressure from MEPs to appoint a woman to the board, which had been all-male after Austria's Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell left midway through 2011.[11]

Unlike her predecessor, Jörg Asmussen, she has no formal party affiliation.[11] Lautenschläger's nomination was welcomed by policymakers across the political spectrum.[12] Her candidacy was endorsed by the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on 13 January and by the full assembly three days later, on 16 January.[9] Early on, commentators noted that Lautenschläger's regulatory experience could also make her an option for the deputy chair of the ECB's Supervisory Board, which must be filled by an executive board member.[5][8][13]

Since her appointment as Vice-Chair of the ECB Supervisory Board in February 2014, Lautenschläger has – alongside Chair Danièle Nouy – also been responsible for European Banking Supervision. She represented the ECB in that capacity in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.[14]

In early September 2014, Danièle Nouy and Lautenschläger were mentioned in media ahead of the results of sweeping stress tests that probed the balance sheets of the eurozone's largest lenders.[15]

By November 2014, Lautenschläger signaled she would oppose having the ECB purchase government bonds of eurozone countries unless there was a clear threat of persistent consumer price declines. This is a contradiction to an earlier message conveyed by ECB President Mario Draghi and his top deputy Vítor Constâncio to bring inflation higher.[16] Alongside Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann, she later led the opposition in the Governing Council against the decision on 22 January 2015 to start large-scale bond-buying,[17][18] amid concerns that it removes pressure from euro-area countries to reform their economies and boost competitiveness.[19] By April 2015, she publicly called into question the effectiveness of the bond-buying program and also warned that low interest rates could lead to asset price bubbles.[20]

In November 2015, Lautenschläger again broke the normal etiquette by her public criticism of the bank's scheme of quantitative easing. She said that a more loose monetary policy had its limits and that money printing had yet to stabilize sinking price inflation, its formal goal.[21]

In September 2019, Lautenschläger quit the Executive Board of the ECB. The ECB did not say why Lautenschläger had quit, though speculation includes her opposition to loose monetary policy, the ending of her role on the Supervisory Board and the impending changes at the top the ECB.[22] She became the third consecutive German board member to resign before the end of their full term.[23]

Other activities

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Regulatory agencies

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  • Financial Stability Board (FSB), Ex-Officio Member of the Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation (2015-2019)

Non-profit organizations

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References

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  1. ^ Marsh, David, "Hollande’s setback signals wider European shifts", MarketWatch, 31 March 2014.
  2. ^ "Regierung nominiert Lautenschläger für EZB". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 17 December 2013.
  3. ^ a b CV at Bundesbank.de Archived 22 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Covington Boosts Public Policy Practice with Sabine Lautenschläger Covington, press release of 13 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e Jeff Black and Rainer Buergin (16 December 2013)Lautenschlaeger Hailed as Possible Successor to Asmussen at ECB, Bloomberg News.
  6. ^ Macroprudential Policy Conference, November 2014: Sabine Lautenschläger Swedish National Bank.
  7. ^ ECB board member European Voice, 22 January 2014.
  8. ^ a b Annika Breidthardt and Andreas Rinke (17 December 2013), Germany proposes Bundesbank deputy for ECB board seat, Reuters.
  9. ^ a b Jeff Black and Jonathan Stearns (14 January 2014)ECB Candidate Lautenschlaeger Backs Euro Bank-Failure Authority, Bloomberg News.
  10. ^ Rainer Buergin (24 February 2014), Merkel Coalition Said to Pick Buch as Bundesbank Vice President, Bloomberg News.
  11. ^ a b ECB nomination European Voice, 18 December 2013.
  12. ^ Ulrike Herrmann (16 December 2013), Karriere in Europas Zentralbank Die Tageszeitung.
  13. ^ Tom Körkemeier and Eva Taylor (13 January 2014) German ECB candidate strikes hawkish tone, Reuters.
  14. ^ German Banking Congress 2014: Sabine Lautenschläger, Association of German Banks website. Accessed 23 March 2024.
  15. ^ Alice Ross (16 September 2014), Lenders hit at ECB over secrecy agreements, Financial Times.
  16. ^ Brian Blackstone (29 November 2014), ECB’s Lautenschlaeger Opposes Government Bond Purchases Wall Street Journal.
  17. ^ Jana Randow, Alessandro Speciale and Simon Kennedy (January 26, 2015), Draghi Plays Chess in Economy Class After Journey to QE Bloomberg Business.
  18. ^ Jennifer Ryan and Stephanie Bodoni (29 January 2015), ECB’s Praet Sees Euro-Area Credit Improving as Stimulus Kicks In, Bloomberg Business.
  19. ^ Brian Parkin and Stefan Riecher (24 January 2015), ECB's Draghi Seeks Real Economic Union to Lead Euro-Area Reforms, Bloomberg Business.
  20. ^ Maria Sheahan (2 April 2015), ECB's Lautenschlaeger casts doubts on QE's effectiveness - Wirtschafts Woche, Reuters.
  21. ^ John O'Donnell (23 November 2015), German ECB policy-setter breaks ranks with Draghi over QE Reuters.
  22. ^ Martin Arnold (26 September 2019), ECB's German board member quits over loose monetary policy, Financial Times.
  23. ^ Thomas Escritt and Francesco Canepa (25 September 2019), ECB hawk Lautenschlaeger resigns amid policy backlash, Reuters.
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  • Website, bundesbank.de. 15 October 2013.
Government offices
Preceded by Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank
2014–2019 		Succeeded by
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