Karl Otto Pöhl, who has died aged 85, was from 1980 to 1991 president of the Bundesbank, the (West) German federal or central bank, at a turbulent time that included German unification and preparations for the common currency of the European Union. He was previously a principal aide to Helmut Schmidt as state secretary – topmost civil servant – in the finance ministry and, after Schmidt lost the chancellorship in 1982, stayed on uneasily as bank president to work with his successor, Helmut Kohl.
Pöhl was an attractive public figure who appeared completely relaxed and at home at political meetings and press conferences, a trait which undoubtedly went back to his student days at Göttingen university studying economics, when he helped to support himself with sports reporting. Like his political mentor, Schmidt, he loved off-the-record chats with American and British journalists in his excellent English. He was also a great raconteur and gifted mimic.
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