Peter Praet served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) and as its Chief Economist from June 2011 to May 2019. In this role, he was responsible for preparing monetary policy meetings and proposing policy decisions. Between 2011 and 2015, he also oversaw the ECB’s budget, organisation, and human resources—during a period that included the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism.
He holds a PhD in Economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). His early career included work as an economist at the International Monetary Fund (1978–1980), followed by an academic position as Professor of Economics at ULB (1980–1987). He later became Chief Economist of Générale de Banque, which later became part of Fortis Bank (1987–1999).
From 1999 to 2000, he served as Chief of Staff to the Belgian Minister of Finance.
In 2000, Peter Praet was appointed to the Executive Board of the National Bank of Belgium, where he was responsible for International Cooperation, Oversight of Financial Market Infrastructures, and Financial Stability—covering institutions such as Euroclear and SWIFT.
During his time at the National Bank, he also served on the Executive Board of Belgium’s integrated financial supervisor (2002–2011), overseeing banking and insurance regulation. In 2008, he was appointed to the Steering Committee responsible for managing the Belgian banking crisis.
Peter Praet has served on numerous high-level international and European committees. At the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), he was a member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Committee on Payments and Settlement Systems (CPSS), and the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS). Within the European Union, he was involved with the European Banking Authority (formerly the Committee of European Banking Supervisors), and served as Chair of the ECB’s Banking Supervision Committee (BSC). He also chaired the OECD’s Working Party No. 3 (WP3).
Peter Praet is currently a Fellow at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
