Alexandre Marie Auguste Jamar (6 November 1821 – 15 August 1888) was a Belgian businessman, liberal politician, and former 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 1882 until 1888. From 1868 to 1870, he was the minister of public works in the government of

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 ...

Career

Born 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 6 November 1821, Jamar started his career at the age of 17, when he became a partner in the family printing business of his brother. Later on he became a commissioner for the

Banque de Belgique The ''Banque de Belgique'' () was a major bank in Belgium, founded in 1835 and eventually wound up in 1885 after experiencing multiple episodes of financial distress. Overview The Banque de Belgique was founded by liberal leader Charles de Br ...

and had a seat on the first management board of the Caisse générale d'épargne et de retraite and the

Crédit Communal de Belgique The Crédit Communal de Belgique (, ) was a Belgian financial institution, established in 1860 and eventually merged with Crédit Local de France in 1996 to form Dexia. By the mid-1990s, it was the second-largest Belgian bank by total assets (beh ...

. Jamar became a censor at the NBB in 1865 and a member of the discount committee of the NBB. In 1870 he became the director of the NBB and in 1882 the governor of the National Bank of Belgium. During his time in office, he had to deal with the consequences of an economic depression. In addition he had to deal with problems within the

Latin Monetary Union The Monetary Convention of 23 December 1865 was a unified system of coinage that provided a degree of monetary integration among several European countries, initially Belgium, France, Italy and Switzerland, at a time when the circulation of bank ...

, caused by the refusal of Belgium to sign the new convention of 1885. His experience in the printing business resulted in better-quality

banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...

s. Jamar died in Brussels on 15 August 1888.

Sources

* Kauch, P., in: ''Biographie Nationale'', Brussels, Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux Arts, 1866–1986, XXIX, 1956–1957, kol. 719–722.
Alexandre Jamar

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jamar, Alexandre 1821 births 1888 deaths Belgian businesspeople 19th-century Belgian civil servants Governors of the National Bank of Belgium