Denis Beau
First Deputy Governor of the Banque de France
Denis Beau was appointed Deputy Governor of the Banque de France on 1 August 2017, and was reappointed First Deputy Governor on 12 January 2024.
In this capacity, he was appointed by the Governor of the Banque de France to represent him as Chairman of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) and, with effect from 17 January 2024, he was appointed Chairman of the Observatory for the Security of Payment Means. He is also a member of the Board of the AMF and of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB). Since 1 January 2023, Denis Beau has been Chair of the ECB's Budget Committee (BUCOM). He has also been co-chair of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and International Organization of Securities Commissions Steering Group (CPMI-IOSCO SG) of the Bank for International Settlements since August 2025, and co-chair of the Working Group Modernisation (WGM) of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) since 20 March 2026.
His tasks as Deputy Governor include in particular the Banque de France's micro-prudential activities, the cash industry, innovation, the Bank’s branch network activities and the internal management of the institution.
After graduationg from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris and receiving an MBA from INSEAD, he joined the Banque de France in 1986 as a financial analyst in the Corporate Balance Sheet Department.
Between 1993 and 2007, he held management positions in the Financial Markets Directorate and the Payments and Market Infrastructures Directorate. He was also seconded for a year as Banque de France representative at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
He then served as Secretary of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems of the G10 central banks before returning to the Banque de France in mid-2008 as Deputy to take up the position of Deputy Director General of economics and International Relations.
In 2011, he was appointed Deputy Director General of Financial Stability and Operations (DGSO), which carries out activities that contribute in particular to the Bank's monetary strategy and financial stability missions.
Between 2012 and 2017, he was Director General of the DGSO. In this capacity, he chaired the National Cashless Payments Committee and represented the Banque de France on European and international fora dealing with prudential regulation of the banking sector, financial stability and monetary policy (Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Committee on the Global Financial System, Euro Retail Payments Board).