The Bank of france is an integral part of the “Eurosystem” which is itself made up of the European Central Bank and the central banks of the euro zone. The Basque de France carries out three main missions.

THE MISSIONS OF THE BANQUET DE FRANCE

MONETARY STRATEGY

The role of the Bank of france is to control inflation by maintaining price stability. As a result, it participates in the monetary policy decisions of the ECB and is responsible for implementing them in France. It is the bank of banks and injects liquidity into the French economy by lending to banks. It is also responsible for printing banknotes, keeping the national gold reserves, managing the currencies and supervising the means of payment.

FINANCIAL STABILITY

The notion of risk control has become essential in the world of banc assurance. This is why, with the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR), the Bank of france supervises the sector by participating in the creation of security rules and by scrupulously monitoring risk control.

ECONOMIC SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

The Bank of france assigns a rating to companies which assesses their financial strength, a rating which will be used to help banks to lend, or not, to the requesting company. It also directs companies (particularly VSEs) towards aid organizations for obtaining loans.

It also protects individuals by facilitating access to appropriate banking services and by actively fighting against situations of over-indebtedness.

Finally,Bank of france is the banker of the State. Thus, it keeps the accounts of the public treasury, manages the titles of the State etc.

Thus, Bank of france intervenes at all levels of the French economy and protects it. It is therefore an important organism in the national landscape.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BANK OF FRANCE IN THE CURRENT CONTEXT

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

With the advent of the European Central Bank, Bank of france no longer participates in the creation of fiduciary money. The role of the Bank of France has gone from economic decision-maker to guarantor of the country’s financial stability. Thus, in this area, Bank of france is losing power but not importance. We could draw a parallel with the separation of the executive power and the legislative power.

TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND FINTECHS

With the evolution of the economic and technological landscape, the question arises whether the importance of Bank of france will decrease in the coming years. Thus, we see that with the development of fintechs and crowdfunding platforms, the general public, and companies are moving away from the traditional banking sector towards the general public.

SOLUTION IMPLEMENTED TO KEEP CONTROL

It seems that Bank of france is not threatened by technological developments and economic developments at European level since it is a partner of all these new players in the national and European economic landscape. There’s an old adage that says “if you can’t defeat them, join them”. The Basque de France seems to apply it. For example, the Basque de France and the ACPR have set up the “Fintech-innovation” cluster, a support body for the development of finance outside the traditional banc assurance sector. The aim is therefore not to fight against new financial practices but, on the contrary, to participate in and regulate them.

Of course, it will always have the role of central bank, since the banking sector remains predominant in the French financial landscape. However, its power still depends very much on the predominance of the banks.