Name Ernst Welteke | ||
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Party Social Democratic Party of Germany | ||
President of Bundesbank speaks in LA
Ernst Welteke (born 21 August 1942) was the president of Deutsche Bundesbank from September 1999 until he resigned in 2004.
Welteke was nominated as president of Bundesbank on 12 May 1999, and his term began on 1 September 1999.
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”, stating that “What we found makes us sure that people connected to the terrorists must have been trying to profit from this tragedy.”
The introduction of the physical euro took place on December 31, 2001. Welteke visited Berlin with his family for the celebration, and his hotel stay was paid for by Dresdner Bank. In 2003, BMW, which owns a bank, paid for Welteke to spend a night on a yacht during the Monaco Grand Prix. Controversy over these incidents led to Welteke resigning from Bundesbank in April 2004. 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.
Currently, Welteke is on the advisory board of OMFIF where he is regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system.