European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel will step down from her position on 3 January 2027 to take up a senior role at the International Monetary Fund. She has been appointed as the IMF’s Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, effective 4 January 2027.
Until her departure, Schnabel will remain a member of the ECB’s Executive Board and Governing Council and continue to exercise her responsibilities. Following an opinion from the ECB’s Ethics Committee, the Governing Council has determined that no cooling-off period is required, and she will not be involved in any IMF-related matters during the remainder of her ECB term.
A successor will be appointed by the European Council in accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. If necessary, her Executive Board responsibilities will be temporarily reassigned among the remaining members of the Executive Board after her departure.
ECB President Christine Lagarde thanked Schnabel for her outstanding contribution over the past seven years, noting that she played a key role in the ECB’s effort to stabilise inflation at the 2% medium‑term target and contributed significantly to the modernisation of the ECB’s operations to meet 21st‑century challenges.
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