Isabel Schnabel

Isabel Schnabel is a German economist who has been serving as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank since 2020.
She became professor of financial economics at the University of Bonn in 2015 and a member of the German Council of Economic Experts. She worked previously at the University of Mainz from 2007 to 2015.

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Early life and education

Schnabel was born in Dortmund. After completing her training as a bank clerk at Deutsche Bank in Dortmund, she began her studies in economics at the University of Mannheim in 1992. She continued her study of economics at the Paris I (Sorbonne) and the University of California, Berkeley before earning her diploma from the University of Mannheim in November 1998 as best in class. Schnabel studied as a doctoral student in economics at the University of Mannheim from 1998 to 2003, where she graduated summa cum laude after writing her dissertation titled “Macroeconomic Risks and Financial Crises – A Historical Perspective.”

Career

Career in academia

After receiving her diploma in 1998, Schnabel started her doctorate studies in the graduate program "Allocation on financial markets" at the Department of Economics, University of Mannheim until 2003. That same year, she also wrote a dissertation, Macroeconomic Risks and Financial Crises – A Historical Perspective, under the supervision of Martin Hellwig. Following that, she then worked as a student research assistant to Axel Börsch-Supan while she completed internships at Deutsche Bank in Saint Petersburg and Frankfurt. For the next three years, she was a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn.
In 2007 Schnabel became a professor of financial economics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. In 2014 she was appointed as member of the German Council of Economic Experts and started teaching financial economics at the University of Bonn in 2015.

Member of the executive board of the ECB, 2019–present

Following a proposal of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the German government nominated Schnabel to the European Central Bank’s executive board in 2019, replacing Sabine Lautenschläger. Shortly after, the Eurogroup supported Schnabel’s candidacy for a non-renewable 8-year term.
On the executive board, Schnabel is responsible for market operations. In this capacity, she oversees the ECB's 5.6 trillion-euro quantitative easing program.

Other activities

Regulatory agencies

Deutsche Bundesbank, member of the scientific advisory board of the Research Data and Service Centre
European Systemic Risk Board, member of the advisory scientific committee
Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, chairman of the advisory board and member of the administrative council

Research organizations

Verein für Socialpolitik, member of the executive board
Center for European Economic Research, member of the scientific advisory board
European Historical Economics Society, member of the board of trustees

Editorial boards

Review of Economics, member of the board of associate editors Financial History Review, member of the editorial advisory board Economics of Transition, co-editor

Political positions

Schnabel is considered to have moderate views on monetary policy.
In early 2019, she strongly advised against a possible merger of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.

Recognition

2019 – North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, Member
2018 – Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Member
2018 – Gustav Stolper Prize