François Villeroy de Galhau

François Villeroy de Galhau (born 24 February 1959) is a French civil servant and banker serving as Governor of the Bank of France and ex officio President of the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority since 2015.

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

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)); he speaks German fluently.[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 ÉNA (École nationale d'administration) from 1982 to 1984.

Career

Career in the public sector

Villeroy de Galhau 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 worked in 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 (1997-99) directeur de cabinet of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and (1999-2000) 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).

Career in the private sector

In 2003, Villeroy de Galhau 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.

Governor of the Bank of France

On 8 September 2015, the President of France, François Hollande, nominated Villeroy de Galhau 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.

As Banque de France governor, Villeroy de Galhau also sits in the Governing Council of the European Central Bank,[4] which makes monetary policy decisions for the whole Eurozone.

Upon his arrival, Villeroy de Galhau amplified the transformation plan of his predecessor Christian Noyer, which he named "Ambition 2020". During this period, the Banque de France transferred an amount of 4.5 billion euros to the French state in 2016, then 5 billion euros in 2017[5] and 5.6 billion euros in 2018,[6] and 6.5 billions in 2019;[7] most of which stemmed from the interest income earned in the context of the asset purchases programmes (quantitative easing) conducted in the whole Eurosystem as part of the ECB's monetary policy.

In 2017, Villeroy de Galhau took part in the launch of the Network for Greening the Financial System.[8] Under his leadership, the Banque de France announced plans to exit from coal and limit exposure to gas and oil in its investment portfolio by 2024 as part of a shift towards more environmentally friendly assets.[9]

Other activities

Regulatory agencies

Corporate boards

Non-profit organizations
  • Gracques, Member
  • Paris Europlace, Member of the Board of Directors[14]

Political positions

Villeroy de Galhau has supported Mario Draghi's policy of "easy money" and complimented Draghi's policy during the European debt crisis of 2012. He has called German inflation fears "exaggerated and irrational".[15]

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

In the traditional letter from the governor of the Banque de France to the French President, he called on Emmanuel Macron to use the economic recovery to pursue political reforms and defend the European social model as a shield against social inequalities, in 2017.[16] In 2018, he underlined the urgent need for the public expenditure to be contained.[17] In 2019, he celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Euro, calling the currency a success that has helped increase the average purchasing power of the French people.[18]

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
  1. FAZ.net / Christian Schubert: Ein Deutschland-Kenner für die EZB
  2. François Villeroy de Galhau, prochain gouverneur de la Banque de France ?
  3. http://www.elysee.fr: Nomination Archived 2015-10-01 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "ECB Governing Council". European Central Bank. 5 February 2019. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019.
  5. La Banque de France va verser 5 milliards à l'Etat
  6. La Banque de France va verser 5,6 milliards à l'Etat, un record
  7. https://www.banque-france.fr/sites/default/files/medias/documents/bdf-ar_2019_web.pdf
  8. "Risque climat, finance verte : les banques centrales s'y mettent aussi !". La Tribune (in French). Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  9. Leigh Thomas (January 19, 2021), French central bank to exit coal, cap oil and gas investments Reuters.
  10. Governing Council European Central Bank (ECB).
  11. Members European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).
  12. Board of Directors Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
  13. Members International Monetary Fund (IMF).
  14. Board of Directors Paris Europlace.
  15. in his book L'espérance d'un européen
  16. Banque de France: Interview de François Villeroy de Galhau, Le Monde
  17. Le Point: Les conseils du gouverneur de la Banque de France à Emmanuel Macron
  18. Le Figaro: «L'euro a contribué à protéger le pouvoir d'achat des Français» (Villeroy de Galhau)
Civic offices
Preceded by
Christian Noyer		 Governor of the Bank of France
2015–present		 Incumbent
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