Bundesbank to Establish New Ethics Code

Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, announced on Monday that it will have a new ethics advisor review the institution's policies on hospitality and favors and work out a new code of ethics for its board members. The decision comes in the wake of a scandal involving Bundesbank president Ernst Welteke. It emerged last week that Dresdner Bank, which is regulated by the Bundesbank, paid a €7,661 ($9,248) hotel bill for Welteke and his family at a luxury hotel in Berlin. The matter is now under investigation by Frankfurt state prosecutors. The new ethics advisor will, according to Bundesbank Vice President Jürgen Stark, "achieve more objectivity around the appropriateness of compensation, fees and similar reimbursements." The advisor will be charged with establishing concrete criteria for the acceptance of gifts and favors and will look at past payments granted to all eight board members to ensure they had not compromised the bank's independence.