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 The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; , NBB; , BNB; , BNB) is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Belgium within the Eurosystem. It was the Belgian central bank from 1850 until 1998, established by law of and issuin ...

(NBB). Born in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

on 18 October 1805, Prévinaire started his career as a civil servant, but after a few years he established a

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven ...

in Huizingen in 1839. Together with its first governor, François-Philippe de Haussy, he was one of the pioneers in establishing the NBB.

Walthère Frère-Orban Hubert Joseph Walthère Frère-Orban (; 24 April 1812 – 2 January 1896) was a Belgian liberal statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 1868 to 1870 and again from 1878 to 1884. Early life He was born at Liège, received his ...

appointed him as secretary-director of the newly established bank in 1850, of which he became vice-governor in 1864 and governor in 1870. During his first year as governor of the NBB, the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

of 1870 broke out. In order to control the financial consequences of the war, Eugène Prévinaire took several measures such as doubling the discount rate and transferring the Belgian gold reserves to the fortified city of

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. After the war followed several years of economic prosperity, and the term of Eugène Prévinaire as governor of the NBB was extended by thirty years in 1872. On 20 June 1873 the law on cheques was published and banknotes became legal tender. He died in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

on 2 June 1877.

References

Sources

* De Paepe, Jean-Luc, Raindorf-Gérard, Christiane (ed.), ''Le Parlement Belge 1831-1894. Données Biographiques'', Brussels, Académie Royale de Belgique, 1996, p. 472.
Eugène Prévinaire

Managing a foreign portfolio before the gold standard era: the National Bank of Belgium in the 1850s
1805 births 1877 deaths Politicians from Leuven Liberal Party (Belgium) politicians Members of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Governors of the National Bank of Belgium 19th-century Belgian civil servants {{Belgium-bio-stub