Who was the first president of the European Central Bank?

Wim Duisenberg was the first president of the European Central Bank.

The Dutch economist took office on 1 June 1998, several months before euro banknotes and coins entered circulation. He led the ECB during the launch of the euro as an accounting currency in 1999 and during the transition to physical euro cash in 2002.

Duisenberg had previously served as president of De Nederlandsche Bank and as finance minister of the Netherlands. His ECB presidency ended in 2003, when Jean-Claude Trichet succeeded him. The ECB president chairs the bank’s Executive Board and Governing Council, the bodies responsible for carrying out euro-area monetary policy.

The European Central Bank was established in 1998 under the Treaty on European Union. Its headquarters are in Frankfurt, Germany. Later presidents included Trichet, Mario Draghi, and Christine Lagarde, so those names are often confused with the ECB’s first president.