Since 1999, when the ECB took up its mandate, about 400 ECB watchers from all over Europe, North America and Asia regularly come to the conference to get first-hand information and to debate with members of the ECB Governing Council, presidents from euro area central banks as well as representatives of international organizations and renowned researchers. Thus, the conference series has become an established event in the agenda of many participants.
Since 2004, Volker Wieland has been organizing the conference series, at first as Co-Director of the Center for Financial Studies (CFS) and since 2012 as Managing Director of the IMFS. From 2015 to 2017, Günter Beck, Research Fellow at the IMFS, was responsible for the conference organization. The conference series was first organized by the former President of Deutsche Bundesbank, Axel Weber, during his time as Director of CFS in cooperation with Otmar Issing who then served as Chief Economist of the ECB.
Please note that attendance of "The ECB and Its Watchers" conference is by invitation only.