Welteke was nominated by the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as president of Bundesbank on 12 May 1999,[1] and his term began on 1 September 1999.

While Welteke proposed to set up a fund to distribute 5 billion euros from gold sales over five years for education and research purposes, Schröder held that was not enough to meet the country's spending needs.

[6] When the introduction of the physical euro took place on December 31, 2001, Welteke visited Berlin with his family for the celebration, and his stay at the Hotel Adlon was paid for by Dresdner Bank.

[7] In 2003, BMW, which owns a bank, paid for Welteke to spend a night on a yacht during the Monaco Grand Prix.

[5] The Christian Democratic Union, then an opposition party, alleged that the German Finance Ministry had leaked details of Welteke's hotel bill.