François Villeroy de Galhau

François Villeroy de Galhau
Governor of the Bank of France
Assumed office
1 November 2015
Preceded by Christian Noyer
Personal details
Born (1959-02-24) 24 February 1959
Strasbourg, France
Alma mater École Polytechnique
École nationale d'administration

François Villeroy de Galhau (born 24 February 1959) is a French central banker, Governor of the Bank of France since 1 November 2015.

Early life

Born in Strasbourg, he descends from the family Villeroy de Galhau (co-owner of the ceramic manufacturer Villeroy & Boch, domiciled since about 200 years in Wallerfangen (Saarland)); his German is perfect.[1] After earning his French baccalaureate degree at the Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, and his engineering degree at the École Polytechnique, he studied at the ENA (École nationale d'administration) until 1984.

Career

He started his career at the Inspection générale des finances.

From 1990 to 1993, he was European politics adviser of the Finance Minister of France and then of the Prime Minister of France Pierre Bérégovoy; he got several departments at the Direction du Trésor in Bercy and then in Brussels, as conseiller financier in the Permanent Mission of France.

Under the Government of Lionel Jospin (1997 - 2002), he was (1997-1999) directeur de cabinet of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 1999 bis [2000 of Christian Sautter (Minister of the Economy, Finances and Industry) and from February 2000 to 26 August 2003 director general of the Direction générale des Impôts (directeur général des impôts).

In 2003, he became general manager of Cetelem, a BNP Paribas company giving retail credits, and from 2011 to 2015 he was general manager for domestic markets at BNP Paribas.

In May 2015, Prime Minister Manuel Valls appointed him to lead a committee scanning the financing of investments.[2] He delivered his report on 26 September 2015.

On 8 September 2015, the President of France, François Hollande, nominated him as next Governor of the Banque de France,[3] succeeding Christian Noyer. As such, he presides over the General Council, the body responsible for deliberating on all matters relating to non-Eurosystem activities. He conducts the three main missions of the Banque de France: monetary strategy, financial stability and the provision of economic service to households and small businesses.

Upon his arrival, he amplified the transformation plan of his predecessor Christian Noyer, which he named "Ambition 2020". His results have proved remarkable as the Banque de France surrendered an amount of 4.5 billion euros to the French state in 2016, then 5 billion euros in 2017.[4]

He is also a member of the European Central Bank Governing Council.

Other activities

  • International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors[5]
  • Villeroy & Boch AG, Member of the Supervisory Board
  • Gracques, Member
  • Paris Europlace, Member of the Board of Directors[6]

Political positions

He has supported Mario Draghi's policy of "easy money" and complimented Draghi's policy during the European debt crisis 2012. He has called German inflation fears exaggerated and irrational.[7]

He has taken many public positions as governor of the Banque de France, for instance on bitcoin which he recalls is not a currency, unemployment ("the most urgent situation in France"), social expense, public service payroll, the banking union, overindebtedness or contactless payment.

In the traditional letter from the governor of the Banque de France to the French President, he called on to Emmanuel Macron to use the economic recovery to pursue political reforms and defend the European social model as a shield against social inequalities.[8]

Publications

Books

  • Développement des activités financières au regard des exigences éthiques du christianisme, Librairie Vaticane, 1994 ( ISBN 978-2110011275)
  • Dix-huit leçons sur la politique économique : à la recherche de la régulation, mit Jean-Claude Prager, foreword by Michel Pébereau, Éditions du Seuil, 2003, 2nd, updated edition 2006 ( ISBN 978-2020822749)
  • L'espérance d'un européen, Éditions Odile Jacob, October 2014 ( ISBN 978-2738130914)

Some of his articles

  • « Le changement dans l'État, c'est possible », in Sociétal, 2002, No. 35, p. 26-30
  • Bercy : la réforme sans le grand soir ?, En temps réel, 2004 (online (pdf, 36 p.)
  • « Justice et fiscalité », in Études, No. 4064, April 2007, p. 463-474
  • « La vocation d'un dirigeant est aussi d'être un serviteur à l'écoute », in La Vie, No. 3260 (21-27 February 2008), p. 18-19
In the daily newspaper La Croix
  • « Ces entreprises qui font l'Europe », 22 March 2006
  • « La pression et le bénédictin », 28 December 2006
  • « Voyage dans le cerveau du monde », 13 June 2007
  • « Un trésor trop discret », 24 October 2007
  • « Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion ? », 26 September 2008
  • « Sagesses de mon village allemand », 17 September 2012

References

Civic offices
Preceded by
Christian Noyer
Governor of the Bank of France
2015–present
Incumbent
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