Benoît Cœuré
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Benoît Georges Cœuré (; born 17 March 1969) is a French economist who has been serving as President of the ''Autorité de la concurence'' since 2022. He previously served as a member of the
Executive Board of the European Central Bank The Executive Board of the European Central Bank is the organ responsible for implementing monetary policy for the Eurozone in line with the guidelines and decisions taken by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. The executive boar ...
from 2012 to 2019.


Education

Benoît Cœuré graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (X 1987) and the National School of Statistics and Economic Administration ( Ensae). He also holds a Master of Advanced Studies (DEA) in economic analysis and policy from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) and a B.A. in Japanese from University Paris 7.


Early career

Cœuré taught economics at l'Ecole Polytechnique and was chief economist, No. 2 official, head of multilateral affairs and development, and head of France’s debt-management office in the country's
finance ministry A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...
. From 2007 to 2009, Cœuré was also co-chair of the
Paris Club Paris Club () is a group of major creditor countries aiming to provide a sustainable way to tackle debt problems in debtor countries. Its creation, which is the first informal meeting, dates back to 1956, when Argentina agreed to hold a meeting ...
of official creditors. In addition, he co-chaired the
G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...
Working Group on Reforming the World Bank and the Other Multilateral Development Banks (2009) and of the G20 Sub-Working Group on Global Liquidity Management (2011).


European Central Bank (2012–2019)

In late November 2011, Cœuré was nominated to the ECB executive board to replace Italy’s Lorenzo Bini Smaghi. He was, in a respect, a replacement for former ECB President
Jean-Claude Trichet Jean-Claude Trichet (; born 20 December 1942) is an economist and high-ranking French official who was President of the European Central Bank from 2004 to 2011. Previous to his assumption of the presidency he was Governor of the Bank of France ...
on the six-member board. France had reportedly insisted, as a condition for approving Italian
Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, banker, statesman, and civil servant, who served as the prime minister of Italy from 13 February 2021 to 22 October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime mi ...
as Trichet's replacement earlier in the year, on Bini Smaghi's early resignation so a new French member could be appointed. In confirmation hearings in December, in line with a position already stated by Draghi, Cœuré said the bank maybe would have to increase its purchases of member-country sovereign debt as part of the effort to combat the
European sovereign debt crisis The euro area crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis, European debt crisis, or European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis and financial crisis in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until, in Greece, 2018. The ...
. He stated, however, that any increase in bond buying would have to obey the ECB’s primary goal of ensuring price stability. He was confirmed in mid-December and began his 8-year term on 1 January 2012. Cœuré was named to manage ECB market operations as of March 2012, succeeding
José Manuel González Paramo José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...
, as well as payment systems and market infrastructures, and for a brief period of time, IT and economic research. He was in charge of international relations and European affairs from 2014, when his German colleague Jörg Asmussen left the ECB,  until 2019. In this capacity, he was a member of the EU Economic and Financial Committee and Euro Working Group and took part in negotiations on financial support to Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece. Cœuré is a supporter of the monetary policy of the ECB, which includes the use of unconventional measures. He repeatedly noted that the economic situation since the outbreak of the crisis warrants low ECB interest rates. He warned, however, that the monetary policy response of the ECB to the crises carries risks. It shields, he says, governments and other market participants from the disciplinary force of the markets and could make it easier for them to postpone painful reform. He urged governments not to be complacent, because the rates won’t stay that low forever. “With our decisions we gave them time. It is important that they use this time and prepare themselves and become more resilient”. Already in 2005 he had called for structural reforms and a more sustainable fiscal policy in Europe. He argued repeatedly that for the euro area to be resilient, it would need three lines of defence: flexible and integrated markets, sound national fiscal policies, and a common fiscal capacity. Cœuré argued that central banks actions can generate moral hazard in the banking system and risk. He warned that “support that is considered as appropriate during the crisis might have perverse effects on the incentives of banks at a later stage.” He also argued in favour of the ECB being tasked with banking supervision, but with a strict separation between the monetary policy and bank supervision functions of the ECB He supported the controversial decision on OMTs (Outright Monetary Transactions), but was in strong favor of the introduced conditionalities to mitigate negative side effects. He argued that “under OMTs, governments will have to continue their reform efforts as required by the respective ESM programme and by IMF involvement. Otherwise, they would simply become ineligible for OMTs. Hence, no reforms, no OMTs.". Therefore, he was perceived in the market to be more on the hawkish side of the Governing Council of the ECB. Together with his German ECB colleague Jörg Asmussen, Cœuré supported the publication of the minutes of monthly ECB meetings. In a speech delivered in November 2018, he also pioneered the discussion on the role of monetary for climate change and he openly criticized the use of
output gap The GDP gap or the output gap is the difference between actual GDP or actual output and potential GDP, in an attempt to identify the current economic position over the business cycle. The measure of output gap is largely used in macroeconomic p ...
calculation in EU macroeconomic policy."True, the output gap is an elusive concept that should never have become a gauge for conducting public policy, and it may be larger than thought."
Monetary policy: lifting the veil of effectivenes
Speech by Benoit Cœuré, 18 December 2019
In his farewell speech from the ECB, in December 2019, he argued against overreliance in capital markets to transmit monetary policy, and concluded that “If monetary policy remains a conversation between central banks and financial markets, we shouldn’t be surprised if people don’t trust us.” In October 2013 Cœuré was appointed chair of the
Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...
Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...
, a standard setting body for payment, clearing and securities settlement systems, which he headed for six years. In 2014, the Committee became the
Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...
(CPMI). Under his direction, the Committee tackled different topics, such as the resilience and recovery of central counterparties, cyber resilience for financial market infrastructures, and the emergence of crypto assets and tech giants in financial services. The CPMI published the first international report on central bank digital currencies in 2018. In 2019, Cœuré chaired a Group of Seven working group on global
stablecoins A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency where the value of the digital asset is supposed to be pegged to a reference asset, which is either fiat money, exchange-traded commodities (such as precious metals or industrial metals), or another cry ...
. In early 2019, a ''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
'' poll of economists found that Cœuré was considered best-suited for the role as
President of the European Central Bank The president of the European Central Bank is the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), the main institution responsible for the management of the euro and monetary policy in the Eurozone of the European Union (EU) The current president of ...
, but
Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; , ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been the President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th Managing Director of the International Monetar ...
was eventually nominated for the position.


Career post-ECB


Bank for International Settlements

In November 2019, Cœuré was appointed by the board of directors of the
Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...
(BIS) as Head of the new BIS Innovation Hub, established to foster international collaboration among central banks on innovative financial technology. In 2020–21, the BIS Innovation Hub was deployed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, London and Stockholm in partnership with local central banks, and built a portfolio of proofs of concept and prototypes across five strategic themes: central bank digital currency, next generation financial market infrastructures, open finance, regtech and suptech, cybersecurity, and green finance. Between 2020 and 2021, Cœuré co-chaired with
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...
Deputy Governor Sir Jon Cunliffe a working group on central bank digital currency (CBDC) set up by seven central banks and the BIS, which published in September 2021 reports on user needs and adoption, system design and interoperability and financial stability implications. He warned against regulation of digital assets and decentralised finance being developed along different tracks and urged discussions on a global regulatory framework.


Autorité de la concurrence

In 2021, the French government proposed Cœuré to succeed Isabelle de Silva as the new head of the
Autorité de la concurrence The ; ) is France's national competition regulator. Its predecessor, the Competition Council, was established in the 1950s. The Competition Authority is an , responsible for preventing anti-competitive practices and monitoring the functioning ...
, the French antitrust agency. On 13 January 2022, after being heard by the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
, his appointment was confirmed. He took office on 22 January 2022 for a five-year term.


Controversy

In May 2015, in an evening non-public speech with simultaneous release added but then delayed due to "an internal procedural error" at ECB, Cœuré apparently moved markets the next day in the
Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
currency and European stocks and bonds with the announcement that the bank's bond-buying program would be "moderately front-load d before the summer trading lull. The speech was originally scheduled to take place under the so-called
Chatham House Rule Under the Chatham House Rule, anyone who comes to a meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any particular comment. It is designed to increase openness of discussion. The rule is a system for ...
. In the days after the Cœuré speech the ECB "declined to comment about its use of Chatham House rules" for the 18 May speech or about its other recent invocations of the rule. In a letter to the European Ombudsman,
Emily O’Reilly Emily O'Reilly is an author and former journalist and broadcaster who became Republic of Ireland, Ireland's first female Ombudsman (Ireland), Ombudsman in 2003 in politics, 2003, succeeding Kevin Murphy (ombudsman), Kevin Murphy. On 3 July 2013 ...
, ECB’s President,
Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, banker, statesman, and civil servant, who served as the prime minister of Italy from 13 February 2021 to 22 October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime mi ...
, clarified the circumstances of the incident and noted that it resulted from internal miscommunication at an operational level on the timing of the speech’s publication, which took place out-of-office hours. The Ombudsman welcomed the transparency steps taken by ECB to prevent any other similar incident.


Other activities


Government agencies

* Committee for the evaluation of the French recovery plan “France Relance”, Chair (2021–2022) * Committee on the Monitoring and Evaluation of Financial Support Measures for Companies Confronted with the Covid-19 Epidemic, Chair (April 2020) *
French Development Agency The French Development Agency (, AFD), known from 1992 to 1998 as the Caisse Française de Développement (CFD, ), is a public financial institution that implements France's development and international solidarity policies. It works to fight pov ...
(AFD), Member of the Board of Directors (2007–2009) * Caisse d'Amortissement De La Dette Sociale (CADES), Member of the Board of Directors (2002–2007)


Non-profit organizations

*
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
(WEF), Member of the Europe Policy Group (2017) and of th
Digital Currency Governance Consortium Steering Committee
(2020–2021) *
Cercle des économistes Le Cercle des économistes is a French think tank founded in 1992 by Jean-Hervé Lorenzi. The association is made up of 30 economists who are also French university academics. It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to organize and promo ...
, Member


University and Research Centres

* Jacques Delors Centre at
Hertie School The Hertie School (until 2019 Hertie School of Governance) is a German private, independent graduate school for governance (public policy, international affairs and data science) located in Berlin. Hertie School is accredited to confer master's ...
, Member of the Advisory BoardAdvisory Board
Jacques Delors Centre at
Hertie School The Hertie School (until 2019 Hertie School of Governance) is a German private, independent graduate school for governance (public policy, international affairs and data science) located in Berlin. Hertie School is accredited to confer master's ...
.
* Center for Economic Research and its Applications (CEPREMAP), President (since 2012) * Cercle des Economistes, Member (on extended leave) *
Paris School of Economics The Paris School of Economics (PSE; French: ''École d'économie de Paris'') is a French research institute in the field of economics. It offers MPhil, MSc, and PhD level programmes in various fields of theoretical and applied economics, incl ...
, Member of the Board (2016–2022) * International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies, Chair of the Scientific Committee


Speeches


"Central banks and the challenges of the zero lower bound"
at meeting hosted by the
Initiative on Global Markets The Initiative on Global Markets (IGM) is a research center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in the United States. The initiative supports original research on international business, financial markets, and public policy. The I ...
(
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
Booth School of Business The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (branded as Chicago Booth) is the Postgraduate education, graduate business school of the University of Chicago, a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in ...
),
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, 19 February 2012; at ECB website. Via Ralph Atkins
"Cœuré, the ECB and zero interest rates"
''ft.com'' blog, 24 February 2012.
"The monetary policy of the European Central Bank"
at
Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...
’ European Conference, Tokyo, 26 March 2012. Via Bank for International Settlements web site.
"Why the euro needs a banking union"
Frankfurt am Main, 8 October 2012.

at the Paris Europlace International Financial Forum “Growth and Investment Opportunities in Europe” in Paris, France; 11 July 2013 * (9 September 2014)

* (14 November 2014)

* (2 February 2015)

(remark:
Alexandre Lamfalussy Alexandre, Baron Lamfalussy (; 26 April 1929 – 9 May 2015) was a Hungarian-born Belgian economist who served as President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997, which was the forerunner to the European Central Bank (ECB ...
(born 1929)) * (18 May 2015)
How binding is the zero lower bound?
delivered at the
conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...
“Removing the zero lower bound on interest rates”, organised by
Imperial College Business School Imperial Business School is the business school of Imperial College London, based in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, United Kingdom. Established in 2003, the business school was opened by Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II. ...
/
Brevan Howard Brevan Howard (officially Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP) is a European hedge fund management company based in Jersey with its funds domiciled in the Cayman Islands. Brevan Howard was founded in 2002 by Alan Howard, alongside four other co ...
Centre for Financial Analysis, CEPR and the
Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; ; ; ; ) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy and the sole issuer of Swiss franc banknotes. The primary goal of its mandate is to ensure price stability, while taking econ ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coeure, Benoit 1969 births École Polytechnique alumni Executive Board of the European Central Bank members French economists Living people