Hubert Ansiaux

Who was Hubert Ansiaux?

Hubert Ansiaux was a governor of the National Bank of Belgium from 1957 until 1971.

After he graduated from the École de Commerce Solvay, he joined the National Bank of Belgium in 1935. Before the outbreak of World War II, he accompanied the evacuation of the NBB’s last consignment of assets to England, thereby safeguarding the assets of the NBB from the Nazis.

In 1941 Hubert Ansiaux left for the United States of America, and in the same year he was appointed as director in London, where he was to succeed Camille Gutt. In London, he was in charge of the practical management of the Bank in London, together with Adolphe Baudewyns. After the war, he was in charge of the NBB's Foreign Affairs department and he was closely involved in the post-war currency reform.

Hubert Ansiaux supported the European integration, and from 1947 up to 1955 he was president of the Intra-European Payments Committee which had been created within the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation and served on the board of directors of the European Payments Union from 1950 up to 1955.

From 1944 to 1954 he worked as deputy administrator at the Bank for International Settlements, and in 1946 he became administrator of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Hubert Ansiaux was involved in setting up the International Monetary Fund where he would later advocate the creation of the special drawing rights.