ECB International Women’s Day 2026 - Speakers

Conference programme

Before his appointment, Patrick served as financial editor for over five years, shaping the FT’s overall financial coverage and managing several teams, including banking, markets and Lex. Earlier in his career he was Frankfurt correspondent, Companies editor and Banking editor.

In mid-2020 Patrick championed the setting up of the FT Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign (FLIC), a charity that promotes foundational financial education among young people and adults. Patrick was appointed Chair of FLIC’s Board of Trustees, following its launch in May 2021.

Between 2011 and 2019 she served as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that she served as French Minister of Economy and Finance from 2007 to 2011, having been Trade Secretary from 2005 to 2007. A lawyer by background, she practised for 20 years with international law firm Baker McKenzie, of which she became Global Chair in 1999. She was the first woman to hold each of these positions.

In 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 President Lagarde was ranked the second most influential woman in the world by Forbes. She has also been recognised by TIME as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She was named Officer in the French Order of the Legion of Honor in April 2012 and Commander in the National Order of Merit in May 2021.

Previously held different management positions at the Bundesbank between 1999 and 2016, including Executive Board member responsible for Markets, Controlling and IT. From 2016 to 2020 he worked in various roles at KfW Group, including Executive Board member, before becoming Deputy Head of the Banking Department at the Bank for International Settlements in 2020. Mr Nagel studied economics at the University of Karlsruhe, from which he received a PhD in 1997.

Born in Athens in 1956, Yannis Stournaras graduated from the University of Athens with a degree in economics in 1978. He obtained his postgraduate degrees (MPhil 1980, DPhil 1982) from the University of Oxford, where he also worked from 1981 to 1985 as a Research Fellow and Lecturer at St Catherine’s College and as a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

From 1994 to 2000 he was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors at the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance. From 2000 to 2004 he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Emporiki Bank. He served as Director General of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) from 2009 to 2012, moving on to join the then Interim Government as Minister of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping. After the national elections in June 2012, he became Minister of Finance, a role he held until June 2014.

Since 27 June 2014 he has been Governor of the Bank of Greece and Member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. From February 2020 to December 2024, he was Chairman of the Audit Committee of the European Central Bank. He has been an Emeritus Professor at the University of Athens since August 2024. 

She is also Chair of Financial Markets at the University of Mannheim and Co-Director of the Mannheim Institute for Financial Education. Ms Bucher-Koenen studied business administration and intercultural management at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and European integration at the University of Kent . She followed the graduate programme at the Center for Doctoral Studies in Economics at the University of Mannheim and received her doctorate in 2010. From 2011 to 2018 she was a researcher at the Munich-based Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.

Ms Bucher-Koenen’s research focuses on household finance, the economics of ageing and demographic change, with a particular interest in private and public pension systems and long-term financial decisions. Her most recent publications focus on individual savings behaviour and insurance decisions and on financial literacy. Ms Bucher-Koenen’s work has been published in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Review of Finance, Management Science and Economic Policy.