(9 September 2015 – France) French President Francois Hollande has nominated former BNP Paribas SA executive Francois Villeroy de Galhau as governor of the Bank of France.
Villeroy will replace Christian Noyer, who retires in November, should the French parliament support the nomination. He’ll sit on the European Central Bank’s Governing Council and so have a say in the implementation of its €1.14 trillion (A$1.3 trillion) bond-buying program.
Other candidates included ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure, the French president’s economic adviser Laurence Boone, and Claire Waysand, the chief of staff to French finance minister Michel Sapin.
Villeroy left the finance ministry in 2003 after 16 years, for banking and became chief operating officer at BNP Paribas in 2011.
His previous role may draw the ire of some legislators. Mario Draghi’s appointment as ECB president in 2011 was criticized as a result of his earlier role as an executive at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.