Carlos da Silva Costa (born November 3, 1949 in

Oliveira de Azeméis Oliveira de Azeméis () is a city and a municipality located in Porto Metropolitan Area in Portugal. Administratively, the municipality belongs to the District of Aveiro. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 68,611, in an area of 161.1 ...

) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

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 ...

who served as Governor of the

Bank of Portugal The Banco de Portugal (English: Bank of Portugal) is the central bank of the Portuguese Republic. The bank was founded by royal charter in 1846, during the reign of Queen Maria II of Portugal, by a merger of the '' Banco de Lisboa'' (Bank of Lis ...

from June 7, 2010 to July 20, 2020, when he was succeeded by

Mário Centeno Mário José Gomes de Freitas Centeno (born 9 December 1966) is a Portuguese economist, university professor, and politician. From 2015 to 2020, he was Minister of Finance of Portugal in the government cabinet of Prime Minister António Costa o ...

Career

Carlos Costa started his career in 1973 as a lecturer in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

at the University of Porto and graduated there. Following his graduation he continued his studies at

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

and then in 1981 went to the former '' Banco Português do Atlântico'', now

Banco Comercial Português Portuguese Commercial Bank ( pt, Banco Comercial Português, BCP) is a Portuguese bank that was founded in 1985 and is the largest private bank in the country. BCP is a member of the Euronext 100 stock index and its current chief executive offic ...

(BCP), research department. As a senior attaché in the Portuguese Permanent Representation to the EU and a member of the EU's economic policy committee from 1986 to 1992, he was engaged in European integration before becoming chief of staff of the Portuguese European Commissioner João de Deus Pinheiro from 1993 to 1999. Prior to his appointment to the European Investment Bank, Costa had positions on the board of directors at ''Caixa Geral de Aposentações'', a bank for pension funds,

Banco Nacional Ultramarino Banco Nacional Ultramarino (, BNU; ; en, National Overseas Bank) is a Macau banking and financial services corporation. It was a Portuguese bank with operations throughout the world, especially in Portugal's former overseas provinces. It ceased e ...

and

Itaú Unibanco Banco Itaú Unibanco S.A. is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. Itaú Unibanco was formed through the merger of Banco Itaú and Unibanco in 2008. It is the largest banking institution in Brazil, as well a ...

holdings.

European Investment Bank, 2006–2010

In 2006 Costa became vice president of the European Investment Bank under the leadership of president

Philippe Maystadt Philippe M.P.J. Maystadt (14 March 1948 – 7 December 2017) was a Belgian politician who served as Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister. He was President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2000 t ...

. He was responsible for the banks' funding financing operations in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Portugal,

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 ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, as well as in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. He was also a member of the

Committee of European Securities Regulators The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) was an independent committee of European Securities regulators in the Lamfalussy process established by the European Commission on June 6, 2001. The role of this committee was to * Improve th ...

Banco de Portugal, 2010–2020

On 22 April 2010 Costa was nominated for a five-year-term by the

Portuguese government , border = Central , image = , caption = , date = , state = Portuguese Republic , address = Official Residence of the Prime Minister Estrela, Lisbon , appointed = President ...

, recommended by the

Finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

Teixeira dos Santos. He replaced

Vítor Constâncio Vítor Manuel Ribeiro Constâncio, GCC, GCIH (born 12 October 1943) is a Portuguese economist and academic who served as Vice President of the European Central Bank from 2010 to 2018. He previously served as Governor of the Bank of Portugal fr ...

, who became vice president 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 ...

on June 1, 2010. In this capacity, Costa also holds the following positions: *

(ECB), Ex-Officio Member of the Governing Council *

Single Supervisory Mechanism The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) is the first pillar of the European banking union and is the legislative and institutional framework that grants the European Central Bank (ECB) a leading supervisory role over banks in the EU. The ECB d ...

(SSM), Member of the Supervisory Board *

European Systemic Risk Board The European Systemic Risk Board () is a group established on 16 December 2010 in response to the ongoing financial crisis. It is tasked with the macro-prudential oversight of the financial system within the European Union in order to contrib ...

(ESRB), Member of the General Board *

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), Member of the Regional Consultative Group for Europe *

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), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors * National Council of Financial Supervisors, Chairman * School of Economics and Management of

Universidade Católica Portuguesa The Catholic University of Portugal (Portuguese: ''Universidade Católica Portuguesa'', pronounced nivɨɾsiˈðad(ɨ) kɐˈtɔlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ, also referred to as Católica or UCP for short, is a concordat university (non-state-run univers ...

, Chairman of the Consultative Council

Controversy

In early 2016,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

António Costa caused controversy by attacking Costa and the central bank for being “irresponsible” by “dragging out” a decision over compensation claimed by commercial paper investors hit by the collapse in 2014 of

Banco Espírito Santo Banco Espírito Santo (BES) was a Portuguese bank based in Lisbon that on 4 August 2014 was split in two banks: Novo Banco, which kept its healthy operations, and a "bad bank" to keep its toxic assets. It once was the second-largest listed Por ...

(BES). The Left Bloc (BE) and the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portu ...

(PCP) openly called for Costa to resign. The attacks triggered a political storm over what the centre-right opposition described as a “shameful” attempt to interfere in the regulator's independence.Peter Wise (February 19, 2016)
Political storm hits Portugal's central bank chief Carlos Costa
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

''.

References

External links

Bank of Portugal official website

Biography on Banco de Portugal official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Carlos Governors of the Bank of Portugal Living people 21st-century Portuguese economists University of Porto alumni University of Paris alumni 1949 births People from Oliveira de Azeméis Portuguese expatriates in France 20th-century Portuguese economists