Elderson Wins Euro-Area Race to Join Lagarde’s Team at ECB

(Bloomberg) -- Frank Elderson is on course to become the first Dutchman in 17 years to serve on the European Central Bank's top policy team after he prevailed over his Slovenian rival for the job.

Euro-area finance ministers meeting by video on Monday picked the 50-year-old supervision official over former Governing Council member Bostjan Jazbec. The Dutch central banker is now the sole candidate to succeed Yves Mersch, whose stint on the Executive Board of the Frankfurt-based institution ends in mid-December.

The race had offered a unique opportunity to achieve gender balance on the six-person board, where President Christine Lagarde and Isabel Schnabel are currently the only two women. The lack of a female candidate may prove contentious in the European Parliament, which held up Mersch's original appointment for months.

The likely appointment for an eight-year term may come with a second role as the vice-chair of the ECB's banking supervision arm, where Elderson has been the Dutch board member. That selection will be decided separately by Lagarde, and then requires approval from the parliament.

Elderson also brings climate-change expertise in his role as the chairman of the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System, a group of 72 mostly European institutions. Lagarde has argued that addressing the consequences of global warming should be “mission critical” for policy makers.

Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra defended his country's decision to go with a male candidate, calling Elderson “extraordinarily qualified” for the job because of his credentials in climate change and digitalisation.

“It's up to the European Parliament to weigh that,” he told reporters. “We did not have a female central banker who fit this specific profile.”

Elderson would be the second Dutch official to reach that level at the ECB, after a lengthy absence for the country since President Wim Duisenberg left the institution in 2003.

With Jazbec now eliminated from the race, eastern Europe will likely need to wait another half a decade to get its first national on the Executive Board. No vacancy is currently scheduled until 2026.

The Dutchman's selection will now need ratification by European leaders after consultations with European Parliament and the ECB.

Read more:

• Tussle for ECB's Last Big Job for Years Becomes Two-Man Race
• ECB on Cusp of History If Only Next Top Recruit Is a Woman
• Central Banks Urge Greening of Coronavirus Recovery Packages

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