There is no serious doubt that Alexander Lorz has the patience, tenacity and grouchyness as well as the necessary skills to fend off the constant attempts of the specialist departments to secure a larger slice of the joint cake as the future Hessian Minister of Finance. After all, the 58-year-old Christian Democrat has led Hesse's Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs for two legislative periods and is therefore very familiar with the internal ministerial battles over distribution – and has managed them extremely successfully over the long course of 10 years.

Although when you meet Lorz in person, he comes across as anything but combative or even hard-nosed. On the contrary, thanks to his polite manner and cheerful disposition, he succeeds in promoting his concerns and winning over dialogue partners for his positions. Those who have worked under his direction emphasise his willingness to collaborate – Lorz, they say, is a "team player".

After more than a decade (prior to his time as minister, he was state secretary for culture and education for two years), he will be dealing less with teachers and more with bankers in future. Minister President Boris Rhein has presented Mr Lorz, who grew up in Wiesbaden, as the successor to Michael Boddenberg, who is retiring, as the future Minister of Finance. He has a lot of qualifications for this role: Lorz studied economics and law, first in Mainz and later at Harvard Law School – and was admitted to the bar in New York. He later completed his doctorate and habilitation and taught law at the University of Düsseldorf.

He will be supported by State Secretary Uwe Becker, who is currently State Secretary for Europe. The former Frankfurt treasurer and former candidate for city mayor has learnt financial services from the bottom up: as a banker at Frankfurter Sparkasse. Becker succeeds Martin Worms as State Secretary for Finance. The 69-year-old is ending his professional career after several extensions.

Rhein introduced the Social Democrat Kaweh Mansoori as the new Hessian Minister for Economic Affairs, Energy, Housing, Transport and Rural Areas. Mansoori will also be Deputy Minister President. Like Lorz, the 35-year-old from Giessen is also a lawyer and has worked for PwC Legal and KPMG Law, among others. Mansoori has been Chairman of the SPD district of Hesse-South, a traditional training ground for political offices, since 2019. He has been a member of the Bundestag for the SPD for a good two years.

The Hessian Minister of Economics has always been of particular importance to Frankfurt as a financial centre – partly because he is responsible for the market and legal supervision of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. For example, he has a substantial say in the stock exchange's merger plans.

Mansoori, like his predecessor Tarek Al-Wazir from the Green Party, will be supported by two State Secretaries for Economic Affairs. One of them is Umit Sönmez, who also comes from the Giessen sub-district. The name of the second state secretary will not be announced until later in the week.