Maurice Frère (8 August 1890,

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

– 11 August 1970,

Side Side or Sides may refer to: Geometry * Edge (geometry) of a polygon (two-dimensional shape) * Face (geometry) of a polyhedron (three-dimensional shape) Places * Side (Ainis), a town of Ainis, ancient Thessaly, Greece * Side (Caria), a town of ...

) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and governor of the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; nl, Nationale Bank van België, french: Banque nationale de Belgique, german: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% pr ...

(NBB) from 1944 until 1957. He lectured at the

Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions * Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970 *Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...

(now split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish Community, Flemish gov ...

). Maurice Frère graduated as a commercial engineer at the École de Commerce Solvay. During the years between

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and II, he participated as an expert in several conferences concerning the problems of the German reparations and the general economic situation. In 1938 he was appointed as president of the Belgian Banking Commission, where he succeeded Georges Janssen. Shortly after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he became administrator at the Banque d'Émission à Bruxelles, but in 1942 he resigned from that post. At the end of the war, he was appointed governor of the National Bank of Belgium. Immediately after his appointment he had to deal with the massive currency reform, known as the Operation Gutt, which reduced the money supply in Belgium by almost two-thirds in order to stabilise the currency. The Belgian law of 28 July 1948 made provision for reinforcing the public character of the Bank, while guaranteeing its autonomy. He was involved in the organisation of the new international monetary system, following the

Bretton Woods Bretton Woods can refer to: *Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, a village in the United States **Bretton Woods Mountain Resort, a ski resort located in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire *The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, also known as the "United Nations Mo ...

agreements. In 1946, he became chairman of the

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution owned by central banks that "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks". The BIS carries out its work thr ...

(BIS) in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

(

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

). He remained president of the BIS until 1958 after which he remained a member of the Board of Directors. In 1950, together with

Hubert Ansiaux Hubert Ansiaux (Ixelles, 24 November 1908 – Uccle, 9 April 1987) was a governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1957 until 1971. After he graduated from the Solvay Business School, he joined the National Bank of Belgium in 1935. Before ...

, he was involved in setting up the

European Payments Union The European Payments Union (EPU) was an organization in existence from July 1950 to December 1958, when it was replaced by the European Monetary Agreement. With the end of World War II, economic depression struck Europe. Of all the non-neutral ...

with the aim of replacing

bilateral Bilateral may refer to any concept including two sides, in particular: * Bilateria, bilateral animals *Bilateralism, the political and cultural relations between two states *Bilateral, occurring on both sides of an organism ( Anatomical terms of ...

payments with a system of multilateral trade and payments.

References

* A.-M. DUTRIEUE, (1996), “Frère Maurice” in G. KURGAN-VAN HENTENRYK, e.a., Dictionnaire des patrons en Belgique: les hommes, les entreprises, les réseaux, Bruxelles, pp. 294–296. * F. VANLANGENHOVE, (1978), “Frère Maurice” in Biographie Nationale, vol. XL, pp. 261–300.

External links

Maurice Frère

La politique monétaire belge dans une Europe en reconstruction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frere, Maurice 1970 deaths Belgian civil servants Governors of the National Bank of Belgium 1890 births