Interview with Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Patricia Hecht and Beate Willms on 5 February 2025

7 March 2025

Ms Schnabel, do you remember the first time you held money in your hand?

That must have been during primary school. I often used my pocket money to buy sweets or an ice lolly.

So money was just a means of payment for you, something that let you buy things?

Exactly. However, my father placed great importance on me understanding how to deal with money early on – even though as a teenager I wasn’t that interested. He later recommended an apprenticeship at a bank to me when I wasn’t sure what to do after I had finished school. And one of his arguments was that I should learn how to manage money.

Did you have the impression he was particularly concerned because you were a girl?

Well, he didn’t make the same suggestion to my brother. That bothered me a little. It was just taken for granted that my brother could deal with money. But, at…