Arnout Henricus Elisabeth Maria "Nout" Wellink (born 27 August 1943) is a Dutch

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

and former

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 b ...

er. In 2010, ''

Financial News ''Financial News'' is a financial newspaper and news website published in London. It is a weekly newspaper, published by eFinancial News Limited, covering the financial services sector through news, views and extensive people coverage. ''Fin ...

'' determined that Wellink was the man who was believed to have wielded the greatest influence on worldwide financial oversight including "game-changing proposals on capital requirements and liquidity" for the world's banks. He was president of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), a director 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) from 1997 to 2012 and chairman of the board from 2002 through 2006. Also, Wellink was a member of the Governing Council of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centr ...

from 1999 to 2012, Nout Wellink bio notes
''Wall Street Journal'' (US). a governor of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

(IMF) and a member of the

Financial Stability Board The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established after the G20 London summit in April 2009 as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum ...

(FSB). Since October 2012 he has been a member of the board of the

Bank of China The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world. The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...

Early life

A native of

Bredevoort Bredevoort ( Low Saxon: ) is a small city with city privileges of about 1600 inhabitants in the municipality of Aalten, Netherlands. It is between the towns of Aalten and Winterswijk. Bredevoort has presented itself as ''Bredevoort boekenstad'' ...

, Wellink studied law at Leiden University from 1961 to 1968. He was awarded a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in economics from

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humani ...

in 1975.

Career

From 1970 to 1982, Wellink worked at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. He rose through the bureaucracy to become director general of financial and economic policy. He, also, held the post of treasurer general. In 1982, he became executive director of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the central bank of The Netherlands. In 1997, he was named president of the bank. On 1 July 2011 his second term as president of DNB ended. In 2000, Wellink became a member of the

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

. Nout Wellink's career has, also, been criticised. Under his supervision some serious problems arose in the Dutch banking sector, where DNB's actions have come under scrutiny by the

Dutch parliament The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

: #The bankruptcy of

Landsbanki Landsbanki (literally "national bank"), also commonly known as Landsbankinn (literally "the national bank") which is now the name of the current rebuilt bank (here called "New Landsbanki"), was one of the largest Icelandic commercial banks that f ...

(

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

) which bank was awarded a banking permit in 2008 (trading under the name Icesave) whilst the

Banque de France The Bank of France ( French: ''Banque de France''), headquartered in Paris, is the central bank of France. Founded in 1800, it began as a private institution for managing state debts and issuing notes. It is responsible for the accounts of the ...

had supposedly rejected a French banking permit. Formally Banque de France later on stated that they never received request from Icesave for permit as a "credit institution" but it was allowed to progress with its pending business in France. Later that same year Landsbanki went bankrupt and was nationalized by the Icelandic government. #The bankruptcy of

DSB DSB may refer to: Science, technology and devices * DsbA, a bacterial member of the Dsb (disulfide bond) family of enzymes * Double strand break, a break in both DNA strands, part of DNA repair * in telecommunications, double-sideband transmission ...

in 2009 which bank was awarded a banking permit by DNB in 2005. Subsequent analysis showed that at the time the banking permit was awarded DSB's risk management still had serious flaws and also the continuity of its business model was deemed risky. Based on a plan of improvement and appointment of a supervisory board DNB issued the permit. After the demise of DSB it turned out that the supervisory board had little influence on the behaviour of its CEO Mr. Dirk Scheringa, the planned improvement of its risk management was far behind schedule and the change of its businessmodel also wasn't implemented. #In 2007 Fortis,

Banco Santander Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centr ...

and RBS successfully purchased

ABN Amro ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...

with the plan to split the bank into different pieces. Though a major system bank and pivotal for the Dutch economy DNB approved the takeover. In 2008, it turned out that Fortis was hurt badly by the credit crisis, which -ultimately- led to nationalization of both Fortis and ABN Amro by the

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 ...

and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

governments, respectively. The Dutch parliament researched this action, and DNB's actions were highly criticized.

Basel Committee

From 2006 through 2011, Wellink was chairman of the

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) is a committee of banking supervisory authorities that was established by the central bank governors of the Group of Ten (G10) countries in 1974. The committee expanded its membership in 2009 a ...

(BCBS). BCBS examines and proposes ways to reconfigure global banking regulations. Wellink's point of view is not fixed, encompassing the premise that "a resilient banking system is central to sound financial markets and growth. Supervisors cannot predict the next crisis but they can carry forward lessons from recent events to promote a more resilient system which can weather shocks, whatever the source."

Selected works

Wellink published works include books and articles. *
''Beyond the crisis: the Basel Committee’s strategic response'' (2009)
* ''President's speech'' (2005)
''The role of national central banks within the European System of Central Banks: The example of De Nederlandsche Bank'' (2002)
with Bryan Chapple and Philipp Maier * ''Jonge wijn in oude zakken : op weg naar een nieuwe Nieuwe economie'' (2001)
''Overheidsfinanciën'' (1978)
with Lenze Koopmans, 201 pages

Honours

*Commander of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

Hoge onderscheiding voor Nout Wellink
- website nu.nl ''(

)'' *Knight of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

*Honorary doctorate from the

University of Tilburg Tilburg University is a public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands. Tilburg University has ...

Notes

References

* * ''This article incorporates information from the article Nout Wellink on the Netherlands Wikipedia.''

External links

2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wellink, Nout 1943 births Living people Bank of China Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau Dutch economists Dutch bankers Dutch civil servants Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Leiden University alumni People from Bredevoort Presidents of the Central Bank of the Netherlands Treasurers-General