LONDON (Reuters) -European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is to take over from Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell as head of two of the Bank for International Settlements’ key economic groups, the central bank umbrella body said on Wednesday.

Powell has been chair of the BIS’s Global Economy Meeting (GEM) which involves 30 top central bankers and its Economic Consultative Committee (ECC) since 2019 when he took over from then-governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney.

He will now hand the baton over to ECB counterpart Lagarde when his term as Fed chair runs out in May next year.

Lagarde’s appointment also means the Basel-based institution, often dubbed the central bankers’ central bank, is heavily dominated by current or former ECB policymakers.

Spain’s former central bank

See Full Page