Jean-Claude Trichet

Jean-Claude Trichet’s background

He is currently Honorary Governor of the Bank of France, holds the position of Chairman of the Group of Thirty, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bruegel and Chairman of the European Group of the Trilateral Commission. He is President of SOGEPA (Société de Gestion des Participations aéronautiques) and also a member of Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group, as well as the “Institut de France” (Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques).

In 1986, he directed the Private Office of the Minister of Economic Affairs, Finance and Privatisation (Edouard Balladur) and in 1987 he became Director of the Treasury and a member of an influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty. In the same year, he was appointed Censor of the General Council of the Banque de France and Alternate Governor of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Trichet was Chairman of the European Monetary Committee from 1992, until his appointment as Governor of the Bank of France in 1993. Chairman of the Monetary Policy Council of the Banque de France as of 1994, a member of the Council of the European Monetary Institute from 1994 to 1998 and thereafter he was appointed a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. At the end of his first term as Governor of the Bank of France, he was reappointed for a second term.

He was President of the European Central Bank, President of the Group of 10 Central Bank Governors, President of the European Systemic Risk Board the Global Economy meeting of Central Bank Governors in Basel and also President of the Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision, for eight years, from 2003-11.

He was named “Person of the Year” by the Financial Times (2007), “Policymaker of the Year” twice by The International Economy magazine (1991 and 2007), “Central Banker of the Year” by The Banker (2008), “European Banker of the Year 2007” by The Group of 20 + 1 (2008) and “Central Bank Governor of the Year 2008” by Euromoney.

Trichet was fifth on the “World’s Most Powerful” list in Newsweek and listed as one of the “Most Powerful Figures in Finance” by Institutional Investor (2008). Trichet was also named one of the “Most Influential People in the World” in Time magazine (2011). More recently he was given the “Lifetime Achievement Award” for economic policy by the National Association of Business Economists (NABE) (2014).