I am delighted to be holding this special Executive Board meeting with my colleagues in such a historic setting, President Joachim Nagel remarked at the landmark meeting of the Bundesbank’s Executive Board at the Regional Office in Hesse. More than 23 years on from its constituent meeting in May 2002, the Executive Board came together for its thousandth session on 24 March 2026. 

Much has changed in the intervening years. Once an eight-member governing body, the Executive Board switched to six members in 2009. Since 1 June 2011, when Sabine Lautenschläger took office as Deputy President, Executive Board posts have also been occupied by women. The other former and current female board members are Claudia Buch (Vice-President, 2014–23), Sabine Mauderer (First Deputy Governor since September 2024, board member since 2018) and Fritzi Köhler-Geib (since November 2024).

And while it may be an exception for the Executive Board to gather at a venue outside the Bank’s Central Office – as it did for this, its thousandth session – it is not exactly a novelty, either. Indeed, the Executive Board aims to hold one of its meetings at a branch once a year. Last year, for example, saw the Executive Board convene at the Chemnitz branch. And this year’s gathering outside Central Office is scheduled to be hosted by the Bank’s branch in Karlsruhe.