National Bank of Belgium

National Bank of Belgium Nationale Bank van België (Dutch) Banque nationale de Belgique (French) Belgische Nationalbank (German)
NBB Headquarters
Headquarters	Brussels
Established	5 May 1850
Governor	Luc Coene
Central bank of	Belgium
Website	www.nbb.be
Succeeded by	European Central Bank 1
1NBB still exists but many functions have been taken over by the ECB.

The National Bank of Belgium (Nationale Bank van België in Dutch, Banque nationale de Belgique in French, and Belgische Nationalbank in German) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% private capital by a law of 5 May 1850 as a Société Anonyme.

It is a member of the European System of Central Banks.

The governor of the National Bank is a member of the Governing Council, the main decision-making body of the Eurosystem, particularly as regards monetary policy; the National Bank of Belgium participates in the preparation and execution of its decisions.

Apart from monetary policy, the National Bank of Belgium takes on other tasks which can be classified as follows:

• the issuing of euro banknotes
• the printing of euro banknotes and the placing in circulation of euro coins
• the management of foreign currency reserves
• the collection, circulation and analysis of economic and financial information
• the stability of the Belgian financial sector
• the role of financial ambassador to international economic institutions
• services for the Belgian State
• services for the Belgian financial sector
• services for the general public

50% of the NBB stock is freely traded on Euronext Brussels, the other 50% of the shares are owned by the Belgian government. (400.000 shares in total)

Governors of the NBB

• François-Philippe de Haussy (1850–1869)
• Eugène Prévinaire (1870–1877)
• André-Eugène Pirson (1877–1881)
• Alexandre Jamar (1882–1888)
• Eugène Anspach (1888–1890)
• Victor Van Hoegaerden (1891–1905)
• Théophile de Lantsheere (1905–1918)
• Leon Van der Rest (1918–1923)
• Fernand Hautain (1923–1926)
• Louis Franck (1926–1937)
• Georges Janssen (1938–1941)
• Albert Goffin (1941)
• Georges Theunis (1941–1944)
• Maurice Frère (1944–1957)
• Hubert Ansiaux (1957–1971)
• Robert Vandeputte (1971–1975)
• Cecil de Strycker (1975–1982)
• Jean Godeaux (1982–1989)
• Alfons Verplaetse (1989–1999)
• Guy Quaden (1999–2011)
• Luc Coene (2011-...)

Vice-Governors of the NBB

(List to be expanded)

• Luc Coene (2003 – 2011)

Library

The National Bank's library is one of the most important economic library in Belgium. The reading room is open to the public.

See also

• Jonathan-Raphaël Bisschoffsheim, founder and first President
• Economy of Belgium
• Euro
• Belgian franc

External links

• (Dutch) (French) (German) (English) National Bank of Belgium official site