Ernst Welteke

Ernst Welteke (born 21 August 1942) was the president of Deutsche Bundesbank from September 1999 until he resigned in 2004.

Ernst Welteke
6th President of the German Bundesbank
In office
1 September 1999 – 16 April 2004
Preceded byHans Tietmeyer
Succeeded byAxel A. Weber
Personal details
Born (1942-08-21) 21 August 1942
Korbach, Germany
NationalityGermany
Political partySocial Democratic Party of Germany
Alma materGoethe University Frankfurt
OccupationEconomist

Career

Political career

From 1974 until 1995, Welteke was a member of the Landtag of Hesse.

Welteke served as State Minister for Economic Affairs in the government of Minister President Hans Eichel of Hesse from 1991 until 1994. In 1994, he took over as State Minister of Finance.

President of the Bundesbank, 1999–2004

Welteke was nominated by the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as president of Bundesbank on 12 May 1999,[1] and his term began on 1 September 1999.[2]

When the Bundesbank studied the possibility of insider trading in relation to the September 11 attacks, Welteke stated that the German researchers found “almost irrefutable proof of insider trading”,[3] stating that “What we found makes us sure that people connected to the terrorists must have been trying to profit from this tragedy.”[4]

During his time in office, Welteke also publicly voiced disagreement with Schröder over the sale of the Bundesbank's gold reserves, at the time the world's second-largest after the United States. While Welteke proposed to set up a fund to distribute 5 billion euros from gold sales over five years for education and research purposes, Schröder held that was not enough to meet the country's spending needs.[5]

In his role as president, Welteke was one of Germany's best-paid public officials, with an annual salary of 350,000 euros ($424,000).[6] When the introduction of the physical euro took place on December 31, 2001, Welteke visited Berlin with his family for the celebration, and his stay at the Hotel Adlon was paid for by Dresdner Bank.[7] In 2003, BMW, which owns a bank, paid for Welteke to spend a night on a yacht during the Monaco Grand Prix.[8] Controversy over these incidents led to Welteke resigning from Bundesbank in April 2004.[8][9]

In a statement published on the Bundesbank's Web site within hours of his resignation, Welteke accused Schröder's government of compromising the Bundesbank's independence.[5] The Christian Democratic Union, then an opposition party, alleged that the German Finance Ministry had leaked details of Welteke's hotel bill. The government denied the allegations.[9]

Other activities

Corporate boards
  • Banco Kwanza Invest, Chairman of the Board (since 2008)[10]
  • Quantum Global, Member of the Advisory Board[10]
  • Fraport, Member of the Economic Advisory Group

Non-profit organizations

References
  1. Journal, Dagmar Aalund Staff Reporter of The Wall Street (1999-05-12). "Welteke Is Nominated to Succeed - Tietmeyer as Head of Bundesbank". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2015-07-03.
  2. "Deutsche Bundesbank - Ernst Welteke". Deutsche Bundesbank. Archived from the original on 2015-07-04. Retrieved 2015-07-03.
  3. "Context of 'Early September 2001: Almost Irrefutable Proof of Insider Trading in Germany'". www.historycommons.org. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  4. William Drozdiak, “‘Insider trading’ by terrorists is suspected in Europe”, Miami Herald, September 24, 2001, https://web.archive.org/web/20011109160700/http://www.miami.com/herald/special/news/worldtrade/digdo cs/099922.htm
  5. Katrin Bennhold (April 17, 2004), Bundesbank Chief Resigns Amid Scandal New York Times.
  6. Mark Landler (April 6, 2004), Bank Leader In Germany Jeopardized By Hotel Tab New York Times.
  7. Landler, Mark (2004-04-06). "Bank Leader In Germany Jeopardized By Hotel Tab". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-07-03.
  8. Bennhold, Katrin (2004-04-17). "Bundesbank Chief Resigns Amid Scandal". International Business. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-07-03.
  9. "Welteke resigns over hotel stay". BBC. 2004-04-16. Retrieved 2015-07-03.
  10. Andrew England (July 7, 2013), Angola fund chief José Filomeno dos Santos rebuffs nepotism charge Financial Times.
  11. Members Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).
  12. Advisory Board Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF).
  13. "Ernst Welteke | Economist - World News, Politics, Economics, Business & Finance". The Economist. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  14. "Ernst Welteke". topics.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
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