Maurice Frère (8 August 1890,

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

– 11 August 1970,

Side Side or Sides may refer to: Geometry * Edge (geometry) of a polygon (two-dimensional shape) * Face (geometry) of a polyhedron (three-dimensional shape) Places * Side, Turkey, a city in Turkey * Side (Ainis), a town of Ainis, ancient Thessaly, ...

) was a Belgian

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and 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) from 1944 until 1957. He lectured at the Free University of Brussels (now split into the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

and the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

Education

Maurice Frère graduated as a commercial engineer at the École de Commerce Solvay.

Career

During the years between

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and II, he participated as an expert in several conferences concerning the problems of the German reparations and the general economic situation. In 1938 he was appointed as president of the Belgian Banking Commission, where he succeeded Georges Janssen. Shortly after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he became administrator at the Banque d'Émission à Bruxelles, but in 1942 he resigned from that post. At the end of the war, he was appointed governor of the National Bank of Belgium. Immediately after his appointment he had to deal with the massive currency reform, known as the Operation Gutt, which reduced the money supply in Belgium by almost two-thirds in order to stabilise the currency. The Belgian law of 28 July 1948 made provision for reinforcing the public character of the Bank, while guaranteeing its autonomy. He was involved in the organisation of the new international monetary system, following the Bretton Woods agreements. In 1946, he became chairman of the

Board of Directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

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) in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

(

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

). He remained president of the BIS until 1958 after which he remained a member of the Board of Directors. In 1950, together with

Hubert Ansiaux Hubert Ansiaux (Ixelles, 24 November 1908 – Uccle, 9 April 1987) was a governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1957 until 1971. After he graduated from the Solvay Business School, he joined the National Bank of Belgium in 1935. Before ...

, he was involved in setting up the

European Payments Union The European Payments Union (EPU) was an organization in existence from July 1950 to December 1958, when it was replaced by the European Monetary Agreement. With the end of World War II, economic depression struck Europe. Of all the non-neutral ...

with the aim of replacing

bilateral Bilateral may refer to any concept including two sides, in particular: *Bilateria, bilateral animals *Bilateralism, the political and cultural relations between two states *Bilateral, occurring on both sides of an organism ( Anatomical terms of l ...

payments with a system of multilateral trade and payments.

References

* A.-M. DUTRIEUE, (1996), “Frère Maurice” in G. KURGAN-VAN HENTENRYK, e.a., Dictionnaire des patrons en Belgique: les hommes, les entreprises, les réseaux, Bruxelles, pp. 294–296. * F. VANLANGENHOVE, (1978), “Frère Maurice” in Biographie Nationale, vol. XL, pp. 261–300.

External links

Maurice Frère

La politique monétaire belge dans une Europe en reconstruction
1970 deaths Belgian civil servants Governors of the National Bank of Belgium 1890 births {{Belgium-bio-stub