Jens Weidmann has been picked by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to succeed Axel Weber as president of the Bundesbank, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Weber resigned last week effective April 30, taking him out of the contest to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet as head of the European Central Bank.

Sabine Lautenschlaeger of the banking regulator Bafin was picked to be vice president of the central bank, the source added.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Thorsten Severin; Writing by Erik Kirschbaum)

Germany