Danmarks Nationalbank was established in 1818. Since then, we have had 20 Governors by Royal Appointment. They have served for an average of 12 years. The longest-serving Governor is Moritz Levy, who served as Governor by Royal Appointment for no less than 31 years from 1861 to 1892.
In addition to the Governor by Royal Appointment, the Board of Governors has two Governors who are elected by the Board of Directors on the recommendation of the Committee of Directors. Over the years, we have had 61 Board-elected Governors, some of whom have also been Governors by Royal Appointment.
Danmarks Nationalbank has had many governors over the years
The number of Governors is prescribed by law
As you can tell from the table of Governors (our ‘genealogical table’, as it were), Danmarks Nationalbank’s has not always had three Governors. When Danmarks Nationalbank was established in 1818, it was decided that the Board of Governors would have one Governor by Royal Appointment and four Governors to be elected by the Board of Directors.
In 1908, Danmarks Nationalbank’s Charter of 1818 was extended. With the extension of the Charter, it was decided that the number of Governors would be four or five, two of whom were to be appointed by the King. One of these had to be an agricultural expert.
In 1936, the Charter was replaced by the National Bank of Denmark Act, and Danmarks Nationalbank was restructured from a private limited liability company to a self-governing institution. Under this Act, Danmarks Nationalbank must have three Governors, one of whom is Governor by Royal Appointment. This Act is still in force today.
Current Governors are Christian Kettel Thomsen, Signe Krogstrup and Per Callesen.