Benoît Cœuré

Benoît Georges Cœuré (French: [bənwa kœʁe]; born 17 March 1969[1]) is a French economist who served on the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) from 2011 until 2019. He currently serves the Bank for International Settlements as Head of the Innovation Hub.

Benoît Cœuré
Coeuré (left) with Klaus Regling
Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank
In office
1 January 2012  31 December 2019
Preceded byLorenzo Bini Smaghi
Succeeded byFabio Panetta
Personal details
Born (1969-03-17) 17 March 1969
Grenoble, France
EducationÉcole Polytechnique

Career

Cœuré taught economics at l'Ecole Polytechnique[1] and was chief economist, No. 2 official,[2] head of multilateral affairs and development, and head of France’s debt-management office in the country's finance ministry.[3]

From 2007 to 2009, Cœuré was also co-chair of the Paris Club of official creditors. In addition, he co-chaired the G20 Working Group on Reforming the World Bank and the Other Multilateral Development Banks (2009) and of the G20 Sub-Working Group on Global Liquidity Management (2011).

European Central Bank (2012-2019)

In late November 2011, Cœuré was nominated to the ECB executive board to replace Italy’s Lorenzo Bini Smaghi. He was, in a respect, a replacement for former ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet on the six-member board. France had reportedly insisted, as a condition for approving Italian Mario Draghi as Trichet's replacement earlier in the year, on Bini Smaghi's early resignation so a new French member could be appointed.[2] In confirmation hearings in December, in line with a position already stated by Draghi, Cœuré said the bank maybe would have to increase its purchases of member-country sovereign debt as part of the effort to combat the European sovereign debt crisis.[3] He stated, however, that any increase in bond buying, would have to obey the ECB’s primary goal of ensuring price stability. He was confirmed in mid-December[4] and began his term on 1 January 2012.

Cœuré was named to manage ECB market operations as of March 2012, succeeding José Manuel González Paramo, as well as payment systems and market infrastructures, and economic research.[5]

Cœuré is a supporter of the monetary policy of the ECB, which includes the use of unconventional measures. He repeatedly noted that the economic situation since the outbreak of the crisis warrants low ECB interest rates.[6] He warned, however, that the monetary policy response of the ECB to the crises carries risks. It shields, he says, governments and other market participants from the disciplinary force of the markets and could make it easier for them to postpone painful reform.[7][8]

He urged governments not to be complacent, because the rates won’t stay that low forever. “With our decisions we gave them time. It is important that they use this time and prepare themselves and become more resilient”.[9] Already in 2005 he had called for structural reforms and a more sustainable fiscal policy in Europe.[10]

Cœuré argued that central banks actions can generate moral hazard in the banking system and risk. He warned that “support that is considered as appropriate during the crisis might have perverse effects on the incentives of banks at a later stage.[11]” He also argued in favour of a strict separation between the monetary policy and bank supervision functions of the ECB [12]

He supported the controversial decision on OMTs (Outright Monetary Transactions), but was in strong favor of the introduced conditionalities to mitigate negative side effects.[13] He argued that “under OMTs, governments will have to continue their reform efforts as required by the respective ESM programme and by IMF involvement. Otherwise, they would simply become ineligible for OMTs. Hence, no reforms, no OMTs.".[14] Therefore, he is perceived in the market to be more on the hawkish side of the Governing Council of the ECB.[15]

Together with his German ECB colleague Jörg Asmussen, Cœuré supported the publication of the minutes of monthly ECB meetings.[16] In a speech delivered in November 2018,[17] he also pioneered the discussion on the role of monetary for climate change[17][18] and he openly criticized the use of output gap calculation in EU macroeconomic policy.[19]

In October 2013 Cœuré was appointed Chair of the Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems,[20] a standard setting body for payment, clearing and securities settlement systems.

In early 2019, a Reuters poll of economists found that Cœuré was considered best-suited for the role as President of the European Central Bank, but Christine Lagarde was eventually nominated for the position.

Later career (2020 - )

Starting in January 2020, Cœuré was appointed by the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) as Head of the new BIS Innovation Hub, set up to foster international collaboration among central banks on innovative financial technology.[21][22]

Controversy

In May 2015, in an evening non-public speech with simultaneous release added but then delayed due to "an internal procedural error" at ECB, Cœuré apparently moved markets the next day in the Euro currency and European stocks and bonds with the announcement that the bank's bond-buying program would be "moderately front-load[ed]" before the summer trading lull. The speech was originally scheduled to take place under the so-called Chatham House Rule.[23][24] In the days after the Cœuré speech the ECB "declined to comment about its use of Chatham House rules" for the 18 May speech or about its other recent invocations of the rule.[25]

Other activities

Government agencies

  • French Development Agency (AFD) (2007-2009)
  • Caisse d'Amortissement De La Dette Sociale (CADES), Member of the Board of Directors (2002-2007)

Non-profit organizations

Speeches

References

  1. "Benoit Coeuré". European Central Bank. Archived from the original on 2013-12-04. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
  2. Deen, Mark, and Alan Katz, "France Nominates Treasury Official Benoit Coeure for ECB’s Executive Board", Bloomberg, November 25, 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  3. Deen, Mark, and Jonathan Stearns, "France’s Coeure Says ECB May Have to Step Up Its Sovereign Bond Purchases", Bloomberg, December 13, 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  4. "New E.C.B. Official May Be Open to Bond-Buying", NYTimes.com, December 15, 2011. Retrieved via topsy.com 2012-04-10.
  5. "ECB confirms Belgian Praet receives economics portfolio", Reuters, January 3, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  6. "ECB's Coeure : Crisis to Blame for Low Rates, not ECB -Report",4-traders, November 11, 2013.
  7. "ECB’s Coeure says low interest rates risk delay of reforms", forexlive, July 11, 2013.
  8. "Reviving credit growth in the euro area", July 11, 2013
  9. "Joint interview of Benoît Cœuré, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, and Joachim Nagel, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, conducted by Mark Schrörs of Börsen-Zeitung on 12 September 2013 and published on 18 September 2013"
  10. "Fiscal Policy in Emu: Towards a Sustainability and Growth Pact?", "Oxford Review of Economic Policy vol. 21", 2005
  11. "ECB Liquidity Can’t Be Capital Lack Substitute: Coeure", "Bloomberg", October 3, 2013.
  12. "Symposium: “Central Banking: Where Are We Headed?” in honour of Stefan Gerlach’s contribution to the Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability", February 7, 2013.
  13. "Outright Monetary Transactions, one year on", September 2, 2013.
  14. "ECB Coeure: OMT A Monetary Policy Necessity ECB Is Prepared To Use", "eFXnews", September 2, 2013
  15. "ECB Reference Guide", "Credit Suisse"
  16. "Zentralbanker: EZB soll Protokolle veröffentlichen", Focus, July 20, 2013
  17. Coeuré, Benoit. "Monetary policy and climate change". European Central Bank. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  18. Jones, Claire (November 2018). "Cœuré addresses criticism over ECB's green finance efforts". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  19. "True, the output gap is an elusive concept that should never have become a gauge for conducting public policy, and it may be larger than thought.", Monetary policy: lifting the veil of effectivenes, Speech by Benoit Cœuré, 18 December 2019
  20. "About the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI)", bis.org, updated 13 May 2015.
  21. Benoît Cœuré appointed to head BIS Innovation Hub Bank for International Settlements (BIS), press release of November 11, 2019.
  22. Balazs Koranyi (November 11, 2019), ECB's Coeure to head BIS Innovation Hub from Jan. 15 Reuters.
  23. Buell, Todd, and Josie Cox, "ECB to Front-Load on Bond Purchases Ahead of Summer Liquidity Lull" (photo included; access may be subscription)-required, The Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  24. Spence, Peter, "Hedge funds got early access to information that prompted euro slide", The Telegraph, 19 May 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-26.
  25. Fletcher, Laurence, with Todd Buell, "ECB error spurs questions about policy disclosures", MarketWatch, May 25, 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-26.
  26. Europe Policy Group World Economic Forum.
Government offices
Preceded by
Lorenzo Bini Smaghi
Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank
2012–2019
Succeeded by
Fabio Panetta
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