Governance bodies

Executive bodies

Governor and Deputy Governors

The  Governor,  assisted  by  two  Deputy Governors, is responsible for the management of the Banque de France. He chairs the Bank’s General Council and is responsible for preparing and implementing its decisions. The Governor and Deputy Governors are appointed by decree by the Council of Ministers for a six-year term, renewable once. François Villeroy de Galhau was appointed Governor of the Banque de France as of 1 November 2015 by a decree dated 30 September 2015.

The Governor is also Chairman of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR – Prudential Supervision  and  Resolution  Authority), the Banking Mediation Committee, the Observatory for Payment Instruments Security, the Observatory for Regulated Savings and the Observatory for Banking Inclusion. He is a member of the Haut Conseil de stabilité financière (HCSF – High Council for Financial Stability).

The Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is at the heart of the operational functioning of the Banque de France. It is chaired by the Governor and composed of the Deputy Governors, the Directors General,  the  Deputy  Secretary  General  for  Strategy  and  the  Director of Legal Affairs. The Director General of the Institut d’émission des départements d’outre-mer (IEDOM – the French overseas departments note-issuing bank) and of the Institut d’émission d’outre-mer (IEOM – the French overseas note-issuing bank) is also a member.

Operational management bodies

Two bodies play a crucial role in the conduct of investment policies and market operations: the Assets-Liabilities Committee and the Risk Committee.

The Assets-Liabilities Committee is chaired by the Governor and advises him on the investment strategy for the Bank's portfolios (euro and foreign currency portfolios.).

The Risk Committee, which is also chaired by the Governor, defines the overall risk management framework for the conduct of mrket operations for the Bank's portfolios.

The three other committes responsible for operational management are under the authority of the Secretary General : the IT Strategy Group, the Real Estate Strategy Group and the Procurement Strategy Group.

The branch network and the College of Regional Managers

The Banque de France network currently comprises 96 departmental branches (of which 13 were regional branches as of 1 January 2016), to which are linked 21 economic centres and 6 household over-indebtedness centres. Services related to currency management are carried out at 52 of these sites, as well as at 3 specialised centres.

To facilitate access to the public services provided by the Banque de France (householed over-indebtedness, access to payment incident databases), 74 customer service and information offices have been opened in towns where the Banque de France has no permanent branch.

Decision-making and control bodies

The General Council

The General Council performs the main functions of a board of directors. It deliberates on issues relating to the management of activities that are not within the remit of the ESCB.

At  14  March  2016,  the  General  Council comprised the Governor, the Deputy Governors, Philippe Auberger, Agnès Benassy-Quéré, Catherine  Barthélémy,  François  Calvarin, Élizabeth Ducottet, Michel Felce (staff-elected representative), Marianne Laigneau, Bernard Delas (Vice-Chairman of the ACPR), Corso Bavagnoli  (censor)  and  Antoine  Saintoyant (alternate censor).

In 2015 the General Council met eight times.

The Audit Committee

The Audit Committee is charged with informing the General Council on issues related to financial reporting, external and internal auditing, internal control and risk management. As part of this role, it was responsible for examining and validating the reports submitted by the auditors on the Bank’s 2015 financial statements.

The  Committee  also  examined  the following:

• The main findings of the internal audit missions and the progress reports on the action plans defined by the audited units;
• The 2016 audit programme;
• The changes to the Bank’s permanent control  and  risk  management  system, notably those relating to market operations.

The Compensation Committee

The Compensation Committee is responsible for reviewing the remuneration of the Bank's senior management.

Internal audit and risk management

Internal Audit

The Internal Audit is responsible for assessing all the Bank’s units, processes and activities. Its missions are  carried  out  by  the  General  Inspectorate, and can take place at  the  Bank’s  head  offices,  the  regional administrative centres and throughout the branch network.

The Internal Audit establishes its annual work programme on the basis of risk priorities. Its primary objective is to oversee the implementation and effectiveness of management, risk control and internal audit processes within the Bank. It also aims to ensure that the Bank’s operations are  conducted  to  the  highest  standard and provides advice on possible areas for improvement. By assisting the Banque de France in  achieving  its  objectives,  the  Internal Audit helps to enhance corporate governance.

The Banque de France’s Internal Audit complies with international professional standards – defined by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) – in both the organisation and conduct of its missions.

Its work forms part of the ESCB framework. The Comptroller General and the Director of Head Office Audit are permanent members of the ESCB Internal Auditors Committee (IAC), which meets several times a year at the ECB. Together with their counterparts at the other national central banks (NCBs) and the ECB, they draw up the Eurosystem’s audit programme and oversee the conduct of audits. The IAC submits its findings to the ECB’s Audit Committee and Governing Council; findings relating to the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) are submitted to the ECB’s Supervisory Board.

Risk management

The Banque de France’s framework for risk management and permanent control has two objectives:

• Strengthen the Bank’s overall control system by evaluating the operational  risks  to  which  it  is  exposed and the action plans to mitigate those risks, and assessing the suitability and efficiency of the control mechanisms already in place;
• Adopt the best practices in the ESCB as well as those recommended by the Basel Committee.