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World Economic Forum, CC BY-SA 2.0 A respected central banker, a leader within the financial services industry, an academic and policy advisor, Axel shapes, analyses and advises on all aspects of global economics and markets. He served as a member of the ECB Governing Council during the global financial crisis, as German Governor at the IMF, and participated in the G7 and G20 Ministers and Governors, and he provides authoritative insight into monetary policy, financial stability and the future of global markets.
Professor Dr Axel Weber is an economist, central banker and global financial leader. With a career spanning public and private sectors, he is both a former President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, and former Chairman of UBS Group, as well as an internationally respected academic and commentator. From monetary policy to governance, markets to strategy, his insights draw together all aspects of finance, policy, risk and economics.
As President of the Deutsche Bundesbank and a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, Axel led EU responses to the global financial crisis and its aftermath. He was also German Governor at the International Monetary Fund, a member of the G7 and G20 Ministers and Governors, and served on the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements. He contributed to the steering committees of both the European Systemic Risk Board and the Financial Stability Board, helping to shape post-crisis financial regulation and stability frameworks.
Following his central banking and policy career, Axel served for a decade as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss banking company, UBS Group. During his tenure, he oversaw the bank’s strategic repositioning and strengthening of capital and governance structures in the wake of regulatory reform and market transformation. He also chaired the Institute of International Finance, representing the global financial services industry.
Axel is President of the Center for Financial Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt, and Chairman of the Trilateral Commission Europe. He serves on multiple advisory boards, including the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute, and advises senior leadership teams across finance and the wider business world. An academic by background, Axel has held professorships at the Universities of Bonn, Cologne and Frankfurt. He was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, teaching central banking theory and practice.
With the ability to deal with the technical and theoretical, but also the everyday, Axel explores the challenges facing policy makers, the outlook for global financial markets, monetary policy in an era of geopolitical fragmentation and tension, and the structural forces reshaping the global economy. Drawing on experience at the centre of decision-making during periods of crisis and reform, he analyses the choices facing leaders in an age of uncertainty.
