Thomas Mirow has been appointed the fifth president of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) by the bank's board of governors. Mirow, currently state secretary at the German finance ministry, will succeed Jean Lemierre on 3 July 2008.

In his current role, Mirow co-ordinates national and international financial market policies and the activities of financial institutions and multilateral development banks. His appointment is intended to correspond with a shift in the EBRD's focus towards markets in the east and south east.

"I am greatly honoured to be joining an institution that has achieved so much in so few years since the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The region where the bank works still faces many challenges and I am convinced that the EBRD has the skills, the experience and the determination to help the region meet those challenges.”

Mirow has held posts in the German federal and state government, as well as senior management and advisory positions in the private sector.