The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; nl, Nationale Bank van België, french: Banque nationale de Belgique, german: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% private capital by a law of 5 May 1850 as a '' naamloze vennootschap'' (NV). It is a member of the

European System of Central Banks The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is an institution that comprises the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks (NCBs) of all 27 member states of the European Union (EU). Its objective is to ensure price stability t ...

. The Governor of the National Bank is a member of the Governing Council, the main decision-making body of the Eurosystem, particularly as regards monetary policy; the National Bank of Belgium participates in the preparation and execution of its decisions. Apart from monetary policy, the National Bank of Belgium takes on other tasks which can be classified as follows: *the issuing of euro banknotes *the printing of euro banknotes and the placing in circulation of euro coins *the management of foreign currency reserves *the collection, circulation and analysis of economic and financial information *the stability of the Belgian financial sector – see also CBFA *the role of financial ambassador to international economic institutions *services for the Belgian State *services for the Belgian financial sector *services for the general public 50% of the NBB stock is freely traded on

Euronext Brussels The Brussels Stock Exchange (french: Bourse de Bruxelles, nl, Beurs van Brussel), abbreviated to BSE, was founded in Brussels, Belgium, by decree of Napoleon in 1801. In 2002, the BSE merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon and Paris stock exchanges ...

, the other 50% of the shares are owned by the Belgian government. (400.000 shares in total)

Governors

* François-Philippe de Haussy (1850–1869) *

Eugène Prévinaire Eugène Marie Ignace Prévinaire (18 October 1805 – 2 June 1877) was a Belgian businessman, liberal politician, civil servant, and from 1870 to 1877, governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB). Born in Leuven on 18 October 1805, Prév ...

(1870–1877) *

André-Eugène Pirson André-Eugène Pirson (21 March 1817 – 28 December 1881) was a Belgian liberal politician, civil servant, and former governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1877 until 1881. From 1857 to 1861, he was a member of the Belgian Cham ...

(1877–1881) *

Alexandre Jamar Alexandre Marie Auguste Jamar (6 November 1821 – 15 August 1888) was a Belgian businessman, liberal politician, and former governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1882 until 1888. From 1868 to 1870, he was the minister of public ...

(1882–1888) * Eugène Anspach (1888–1890) * Victor Van Hoegaerden (1891–1905) *

Théophile de Lantsheere Théophile Charles André de Lantsheere (4 November 1833 – 21 February 1918) was a Belgian Catholic Party politician. Born in Asse, de Lantsheere was a student of law, obtaining a doctorate, and practiced as an advocate in Brussels. He w ...

(1905–1918) *

Leon Van der Rest Léon Van der Rest (1846–1932) was a Belgian lawyer, businessman and governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1918 until 1923. Career He started his career as a lawyer at the Brussels Bar, but after a few years took charge of the fam ...

(1918–1923) * Fernand Hautain (1923–1926) * Louis Franck (1926–1937) *

Georges Janssen Georges Janssen (1892 – 9 June 1941) was a Belgian lawyer, civil servant and governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1938 until 1941. Career George Janssen started his career as a lawyer and also built an academic career, as from 19 ...

(1938–1941) *

Albert Goffin Albert Goffin (died 1958) was a Belgian banker, civil servant and governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 16 July until 27 November 1941. He started his career at the NBB in 1907. In 1922, he became administrator delegate at the Ban ...

(1941) *

Georges Theunis Georges (George) Emile Léonard Theunis (28 February 1873 – 4 January 1966) was the prime minister of Belgium from 16 December 1921 to 13 May 1925 and again from 20 November 1934 to 25 March 1935. He was governor of the National Bank of Belgi ...

(1941–1944) *

Maurice Frère Maurice Frère (8 August 1890, Charleroi – 11 August 1970, Side) was a Belgian civil servant and governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1944 until 1957. He lectured at the Free University of Brussels (now split into the Universit ...

(1944–1957) *

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 ...

(1957–1971) *

Robert Vandeputte Robert Vandeputte (26 February 1908 – 18 November 1997), was a Belgian economist, civil servant, politician, and former governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1971 until 1975. He was Minister of Finance A finance minister is an ...

(1971–1975) * Cecil de Strycker (1975–1982) *

Jean Godeaux Baron Jean Godeaux (3 July 1922 – 27 April 2009) was a Belgian economist, civil servant and former governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1982 until 1989. Jean Godeaux studied both law and economics, and started his career in 1947 ...

(1982–1989) *

Alfons Verplaetse Alfons "Fons" Remi Emiel, Viscount Verplaetse (19 February 1930 – 15 October 2020) was a Belgian economist who served as Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1989 until 1999. He was one of the architects of the devaluation of the ...

(1989–1999) *

Guy Quaden Guy, Baron Quaden (born 5 August 1945 in Liège, Belgium) is a Belgian economist. He was Governor of the National Bank of Belgium 2003–11, and as such a member of the Governing and General Councils of the European Central Bank. Since 2003 he ha ...

(1999–2011) *

Luc Coene Luc Coene (11 March 1947 – 5 January 2017) was a Belgian economist. He was Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from April 2011 until March 2015 . Education Luc Coene was born in Ghent and graduated in economics at Ghent University in ...

(2011–2015) * (2015–2019) * (2019–present)

Vice-Governors

(List to be expanded) *

(2003–2011) *

Mathias Dewatripont Mathias François Dewatripont (born 27 December 1959) is a Belgian economist and professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He studied economics at the ULB, ...

(2014–2015) * Pierre Wunsch (2015–2019)

References

External links

*
The Scientific Library of the National Bank of Belgium
* {{Authority control Economy of Belgium

Banks of Belgium Companies in the BEL Mid Index 1850 establishments in Belgium Banks established in 1850 Companies based in Brussels

Governors

Vice-Governors

See also

References

External links