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Christine Lagarde, French Finance Minister

Friday 7 January 2011 - by Will Henley

Christine Lagarde, French Finance Minister - Copyright ministère de l'Économie
 The driving force behind French financial policy, Lagarde is an ambitious character with strong views on the future shape of the global and economic system. She comes 19th in the GFS Power 50.

While President Nicolas Sarkozy always jumps at the chance to seize headlines at global summits, Lagarde grits her teeth and gets down to business behind the scenes.

Shockingly, Lagarde is the first woman of a G8 country to be appointed finance minister. She is also the first member of France's national synchronised swimming team to make it to the role.

All eyes turned to France following the G20 summit in South Korea in November as it prepared to host the global body in 2011.

In the spotlight, Lagarde was quick to indicate that an overhaul of the Bretton Woods international monetary system could be on the cards, even suggesting that the International Monetary Fund should be involved in controlling capital flows.

The minister, who has been in place since June 2007 and survived a government reshuffle in the Autumn, has said the IMF's Special Drawing Right system could play a bigger role as a reserve currency and insisted that the G20 should transform into a "more permanent forum".


Setting herself up as an opponent of computerised high-frequency trading, Lagarde even suggested that the tool should be banned outright, or at least tightly regulated by the European Union.

Lagarde has stuck firmly behind the eurozone but insisted that member countries broke the bloc's rules by going ahead with bailouts of stricken Greece and Ireland.

The former lawyer has claimed that EU countries should more closely align their economic policies, including tax legislation, and has voiced her opposition to restructuring debts. Her comments that Ireland should briskly raise its corporate taxes however did little to endear the Frenchwoman to her Northern European cousins.

Lagarde previously worked as an intern for US congressman William Cohen in Washington.

In November 2008, French newspaper Le Parisien quoted Largade as saying that she wanted Paris to become a major centre for Islamic finance.

Learn more about the GFS Power 50, a countdown of the most influential people in worldwide financial regulation in 2010.


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