FRANKFURT – A third of European Central Bank managers are German. The ECB has a larger representation than the size might suggest.

It was also revealed by the ECB that France, second in size, had been underrepresented at its central bank. Christine Lagarde has headed it since 2019, according to the first breakdown by its staff.

Table published by the ECB as part of its annual report, and reproduced here, shows that Germans accounted 31.3% and 27.7% respectively of roughly 4,000 employees of the Frankfurt-based institution.

This figure is greater than the national’s 21.4% of the ECB Capital. The ECB Capital is based on the country’s economic size as well as the population and the central bank uses it to allocate profits and financial firepower.

The ECB stated that “up-to-date numbers will be provided annually by this report.”

France had 10.8% of the ECB’s managers and 7.2% staff. This was less than its 16.6% share in the ECB. France also lags Spain and Italy in terms of senior level representation.

However, smaller countries such as Portugal and Ireland were pushing their limits.

Despite Britain exiting the EU in 2020, 4.6% of all ECB workers and 3.8% percent of managers were still British.

The ECB can only be joined by EU citizens, regardless of whether the country has the euro or not.