Portrait photograph of Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank.

Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB, 1 November 2003 – 31 October 2011.

Photo: Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya / CC BY 2.0, 2011.

Jean-Claude Trichet led the European Central Bank for eight years, from 2003 to 2011. His signature is the one most euro users have handled without noticing: it covers the longest stretch of first-series production.

BornLyon, France, 20 December 1942
Term as ECB President1 November 2003 – 31 October 2011
Banknotes signedFirst series only

A career inside the French Treasury

Trichet trained as an engineer at the Mines school before moving to the École nationale d’administration and the French Treasury. He chaired the Paris Club of creditor countries, served as director of the Treasury, and became Governor of the Banque de France in 1993, a position he held until moving to Frankfurt.

His years at the Banque de France coincided with the preparation of monetary union, so he arrived at the ECB with direct experience of the technical work behind the euro.

Eight years, two crises

Trichet’s term ran from 1 November 2003 to 31 October 2011. It included the 2008 financial crisis and the first phase of the euro-area sovereign debt crisis, and it also covered the routine but demanding work of keeping a young currency in circulation: replacing worn notes, expanding production as the euro area grew from twelve to seventeen countries, and preparing the security upgrade that would become the Europa series.

The most common of the four signatures

Because his presidency spanned eight years of continuous first-series production, the Trichet signature appears on more banknotes, more denominations and more printing-works combinations than any other on that series. He never signed a Europa-series note: the new series began issuing in 2013, after he had left.

For collectors this makes the Trichet signature the baseline against which the scarcer Duisenberg and first-series Draghi combinations are measured. The relevant fields are catalogued in the first-series catalogue.

Where to look on the note

The signature is printed on the front, next to the ECB initials, in the same position across all denominations. The comparison with the other three presidents is set out in signatures on euro banknotes.