Alfons Verplaetse

Alfons "Fons" Remi Emiel, Viscount Verplaetse (19 February 1930 – 15 October 2020) was a Belgian economist who served as Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1989 until 1999. He was one of the architects of the devaluation of the Belgian Frank in 1982 when he worked at the cabinet of Wilfried Martens in the government Martens V. As governor of the NBB, he prepared the entry of Belgium to the euro in 1999.

Career Verplaetse was born on 19 February 1930, in Zulte. After he graduated in commercial sciences from the Catholic University of Leuven, Alfons Verplaetse started his career at the National Bank in 1953, where he worked at the Research department. The plan was mainly conceived by four people meeting in Verplaetse's holiday residence in , a tiny village in the Ardennes. Later Poupehan became a term for backroom politics.

He was appointed as a director of the NBB in 1985 and became vice-governor in 1988 He was replaced on 8 February 1999 by Urban Bäckström. After his retirement, he made his expertise available in the service of economic and financial development in the Democratic Republic of Congo.