By Marc Jones
LONDON (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's Jens Weidmann will give a behind-closed-doors speech to an invitation-only group of London's bankers on Thursday, just weeks after another ECB policymaker disclosed sensitive information at a similar event.
In a sign that lessons have been learned from last month, when ECB board member Benoit Coeure gave top hedge funds and banks a head start on planned adjustments to the euro zone bond buying programme, Germany's Bundesbank, of which Weidmann is the head, has told reporters it will publish his speech promptly.
Coeure came in for heavy criticism from politicians and market participants after his comments were published some 14 hours after he spoke at a dinner organised by a part of Imperial College's business school that is funded by the Brevan Howard hedge fund.
The information he gave triggered one of the biggest moves in the euro this year.
ECB head Mario Draghi is facing questions from European parliament members over the incident, and Weidmann could reopen the debate about private briefings almost immediately.
He is due to speak at an event organised by the London-based Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) which has a growing reputation for bringing top politicians and central bankers to speak and meet with its fee-paying members.
Some of OMFIF's events are open to media but, like Coeure's dinner last month, this one isn't.
Weidmann is pivotal at the ECB as Germany's representative and the main opponent of its bond buying programme. While the Bundesbank has promised to publish Weidmann's words as soon as he speaks, it hadn't disclosed that he would speak at the event. Any comments he makes during any question and answer session will not be made public.
The talk has been organised for months, long before the Coeure storm erupted.
On its website, OMFIF describes itself as, "a 'club' for central banks, sovereign funds and public sector financial institutions which provides a discreet forum for interaction with private sector asset managers and market participants."
It says around 40 of its members will be in the audience to listen to Weidmann. It declined to say who, adding only than that it would be "a wide-range of investors."
Central bankers regularly speak at events, give briefings and attend meetings that are not open to the media. ECB and other euro zone central bank officials alone go to hundreds every year, hosted by a wide variety of organisations.
They see it as an important part of keeping in touch with financial market thinking and understanding how they would respond to potential future policy changes.
But maintaining public trust is also crucial as the ECB oversees emergency funding for Greece's fragile banks and rolls out its money printing programme, which has drawn accusations in countries such as Germany that it is punishing savers by driving interest rates so low.
Mario Draghi has a deadline this week to explain to the 'European Ombudsman' what happened during Coeure's trip to London last month and is expected to announce stronger rules in coming weeks on policymakers attending closed-door events.