By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel is in talks with the International Monetary Fund about taking over its Monetary and Capital Markets Department, German financial daily Handelsblatt reported Thursday.

Schnabel could consequently leave the ECB before the scheduled end of her term in late 2027, the newspaper said, citing government and financial circles.

An ECB spokesperson declined to comment on a possible early departure by Schnabel, while the IMF told Handelsblatt that its recruitment process was ongoing and that it would comment once the process had been completed.

The position has been vacant since September 1 after Tobias Adrian stepped down as the IMF's financial counsellor and director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the end of August. Adrian has extended his contract for six months to serve as an adviser to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

Schnabel, who is responsible for markets on the ECB's Executive Board, would leave the central bank before the expiry of her eight-year term if she accepted the IMF position.

Such a move would also end any remaining prospect of Schnabel succeeding ECB President Christine Lagarde, whose term expires at the end of October 2027. Handelsblatt said the German government had concluded that legal restrictions on a second Executive Board term made a Schnabel presidency highly unlikely in any case.