- Leon Van der Rest
Léon Van der Rest was a Belgian lawyer, businessman and governor of the
National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1918 until 1923.Career
He started his career as a lawyer at the Brussles Bar, but after a few years took charge of the family business as a
ironmonger . Besides being active in the family business, he also served as commissioner for a number of other companies. In 1888 he became a member of the discount committee of the NBB, while being an administrator of the "Crédit Anversois". In 1898 he was appointed as a censor of the bank and in 1905 as a director. In 1912, he became vice-governor underThéophile de Lantsheere . When Théophile de Lantsheere was removed as governor of the bank by the Germans on22 December 1914 at the start of the occupation of Belgium duringWorld War I , he became in charge of the NBB.During the war Léon Van der Rest, was vice-president of the National Aid and Food Provision Committee, under
Emile Francqui . After the war, he became governor of the NBB in 1918. The immediate postwar period knew a rampant inflation and loss of value of thebelgian franc . In 1923, he did not seek the renewal of this term as governor and became the first honorary governor of the NBB. He was succeeded byFernand Hautain .ource
* [http://www.nbb.be/pub/01_00_00_00_00/01_02_00_00_00/01_02_02_00_00/01_02_02_08_01.htm?l=en&t=bu Léon Van der Rest]
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