UBS CIO chief economist for the Eurozone, Ricardo Garcia, says in a research note
Garcia argues that the nomination of Luis de Guindos as ECB vice president has increased Jens Weidmann's (who is currently Bundesbank president) chances of taking over Mario Draghi as the next ECB president.
The note says that they "expect Spain to support a German candidate for the ECB presidency after Germany supported De Guindos", while also pointing out that Germany has never had one of the ECB's top positions and is under-represented in the Governing Council.
"We think that an ECB under Weidmann would lead to a faster interest rates normalisation path than would otherwise be the case", Garcia comments on the changes if Weidmann was to be appointed - while also saying that the appointment will support the euro and add further pressure on bond yields.
Draghi's term only ends on 31 October 2019, so there is still a long way to go. It's a little premature to talk about this, but recent chatter in the market has said that De Guindos' appointment paves the way for Weidmann to take over - so just sharing some stuff on that.
