Weidmann Won’t Seek Helm of IMF as He’s Happy at Bundesbank

(Bloomberg) -- Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann won’t apply for Christine Lagarde’s job at the helm of the International Monetary Fund, narrowing the field of European candidates who might seek the role.

The German central bank chief is very happy with his current position and isn’t applying anywhere else, a spokesman said by phone in Frankfurt on Thursday.

Lagarde is leaving the Washington-based fund to succeed European Central Bank President Mario Draghi later this year. Weidmann, long seen as one of the frontrunners for that role, missed out when the former French finance minister clinched it as part of a roster of European Union jobs agreed during protracted talks this week.

The decision not to apply for the IMF by the 51-year-old Weidmann, who worked at the fund in the 1990s, marks another crossroads in a career that brought the native of Solingen, Germany, to the Governing Council of the ECB after time in Berlin advising German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The Bundesbank president was one of a handful of qualified potential contenders from Europe. His removal from the race may effectively end the possibility of a German taking the role now, which would have been the country’s second tenure in the fund’s history after Horst Koehler’s stint in Washington from 2000 to 2004.

The IMF vacancy has traditionally been filled by a European, as part of an arrangement that correspondingly ensures the World Bank is led by someone nominated by the U.S. Officials from two key European governments said they anticipate pressing for continuity.

Emerging market countries are likely to intensify the challenge they have posed to that setup in previous rounds of appointments to the role.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jana Randow in Frankfurt at jrandow@bloomberg.net;Craig Stirling in Frankfurt at cstirling1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss

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