Will consult Merkel before discussing career plans: Weber

BERLIN: Bundesbank President Axel Weber has declared that he will only talk about his future career plans after consultation with Chancellor Angela Merkel, a day after reports that he plans to leave the German central bank for a private company drew criticism from various quarters.

Weber said he had a telephone conversation with Ms Merkel and assured her that he will not comment on his career plans before meeting her again.

He did not indicate when their next meeting will take place.

"I have assured the Chancellor that all necessary decisions will be taken only in consultation with her," he said ahead of an address to the German Chamber of Commerce in Vienna on monetary policies.

His plans not to seek a second term at the Bundesbank when his current term expires in April next year -- which were leaked to the media -- have caused some irritation in the German government.

Weber was favoured by Merkel to succeed European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, whose term expires at the end of October.

As speculation continues about the possibility of Weber becoming the co-head of Deutsche Bank together with Anshu Jain as replacements for the incumbent CEO, Josef Ackermann, who retires in early 2013, anti-corruption organisation Transparency International has demanded that the central bank president maintain a waiting period of at least three years because he knows sensitive information about the country's banks, including Deutsche Bank's the competitors.

Germany's opposition Green party has demanded a waiting period of at least one year, but suggested that a three-year period would be ideal.