Burkhard Balz served on the Bundesbank’s Executive Board since September 2018 and was responsible for the Directorates General for Payments and Settlement Systems, Cash Management, Digital Euro and International Central Bank Dialogue. He is a member of the Eurosystem High-Level Task Force on central bank digital currency and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Since January 2024 he is alternate member of the Board of Directors of the BIS.  

Prior to joining the Bundesbank, Burkhard served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2018. A law graduate and a trained bank clerk, he sat on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and served as the financial policy spokesman of the European People’s Party (EPP) between 2014 and 2018. As rapporteur for the European Parliament, he presented reports on, among other topics, Latvia’s accession to the euro area, the Solvency II Directive, and regulations pertaining to the European Supervisory Authorities.  

Before entering the European Parliament, Burkhard held various positions at Commerzbank AG in Hanover, where he most recently led the institutional client’s department.