Christian Otto was born in Lübeck in 1968. After graduating from high school and completing a banking apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank, he decided to study business administration at the University of Hamburg, graduating in 1996.

Christian Otto began his professional career at the Deutsche Bundesbank with a traineeship before taking on various positions in Hamburg and Neubrandenburg. A significant part of his career was shaped by his work as head of the department for ongoing banking supervision, which he held from 2003 to 2014, initially at the head office in Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Schleswig-Holstein, and then in Hesse.

In 2014, Christian Otto took over as head of the Coordination of National and International Ongoing Supervision department in the Banking and Financial Supervision division in Frankfurt, and in 2020 he became head of the Banking and Financial Supervision regional division at the Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Schleswig-Holstein headquarters, and subsequently in Hesse.

Christian Otto has been President of the Deutsche Bundesbank's head office in North Rhine-Westphalia since 2024. In this role, he represents the Bundesbank in Germany's most populous state, helps shape regional banking and financial supervision, and is the point of contact for business, politics, and the public.