Netherlands Picks Sleijpen to Succeed Knot at Central Bank

(Bloomberg) -- The Dutch government appointed Olaf Sleijpen to head the central bank.

Sleijpen, currently a member of the institution’s executive board, will start his seven-year term on July 1. He’ll succeed Klaas Knot, who led the central bank for 14 years and couldn’t stand for another period. King Willem Alexander is set to officially sign his appointment by royal decree.

“Sleijpen is an authority at the nexus of monetary policy, financial stability and European cooperation,” Martin van Rijn, chairman of the central bank’s supervisory board, said in a statement. “We are confident that he will lead the central bank with authority and vision during a period of complex economic and societal transitions.”

Sleijpen, 54, will take on a role that carries a seat on the European Central Bank’s interest rate-setting panel, where Knot has been one of the more hawkish members. Sleijpen has already attended some ECB meetings, according to accounts of them.

The appointment is part of a major personnel shakeup at the ECB, with Knot one of seven heads of the euro zone’s 20 central banks whose terms expire this year. The changes come amid a spate of reductions in borrowing costs as inflation heads back to 2% and officials fret over the economic fallout from US President Donald Trump’s trade policies. 

As the Governing Council’s longest-servicing member, Knot was one of the ECB’s most influential policymakers. He’s considered a possible contender to succeed Christine Lagarde when her non-renewable eight-year term as president ends in late 2027.

--With assistance from Katharina Rosskopf and Dasha Afanasieva.

(Updates with statement, detail starting in third paragraph.)

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