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 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.
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 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.
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 1 January 2018, the General Council comprised the Governor, the Deputy Governors, Anne-Marie Delatte, Agnès Benassy-Quéré, Catherine Barthélémy, François Calvarin, Élizabeth Ducottet, Yannick Guillemaud (staff-elected representative), Jean-Roger Davin, Jean-Paul Faugere (Vice-Chairman of the ACPR), TBA (censor) and Gabriel Cumenge (alternate censor).
In 2015 the General Council met eight times.
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 Compensation Committee is responsible for reviewing the remuneration of the Bank's senior management.
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.
The Banque de France’s framework for risk management and permanent control has two objectives:
Updated on: 10/20/2021 11:28