This article is missing information about the current officers, the evolution to independence in 1993, and financial crises. Please see the french-wiki article for comparison. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(August 2014)
1 The Bank of France (Banque de France) still exists but many functions have been taken over by the ECB.
The Banque de France, headquartered in Paris, is the central bank of France; it is linked to the European Central Bank (ECB). Founded in 1800, it helped resolve the financial crisis of 1848 and emerged as a powerful central bank. Its main charge is to implement the interest rate policy of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).
In 1800, financial power in France was in the hands of about ten to fifteen banking houses whose founders, in most cases, came from Switzerland in the second half of the eighteenth century. These bankers, mostly Protestant, were deeply involved in the agitations leading up to the French Revolution. When the revolutionary violence got out of hand, they orchestrated the rise of Napoleon, whom they regarded as the restorer of order. As a reward for their support, Napoleon, in 1800, gave the bankers a monopoly over French finance by giving them control of the new Bank of France.[1] For the first fifteen years it was the sole issuer of bank notes in Paris, and this privilege was extended to other financially important towns and the rest of the country by 1848.[2]
On 1 June 1998, a new institution was created, the European Central Bank (ECB), charged with steering the single monetary policy for the euro. The body formed by the ECB, and the national central banks (NCB) of all the member states of the European Union, constitute the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).
The ESCB is an institutional framework of a single monetary policy for the euro. According to the Banque de France's website, the "sharing of responsibilities between the ECB and the NCBs is based upon significant decentralization of the conduct of the ESCB's single monetary policy".
14 April 1803, the new Bank received its first official charter granting it the exclusive right to issue paper money in Paris for fifteen years.[4]
22 April 1806, a new law replaced the Central Committee with a Governor and two Deputy Governors. All three were appointed by the Emperor.[4]
Decree dated 16 January 1808 set out the "Basic Statutes", which were to govern the Bank's operations until 1936.[4]
Decree on 6 March 1808 authorized the Bank to purchase the former mansion of the Count of Toulouse in the rue de la Vrillière in Paris for its headquarters.[4]
1808–1936 The Bank's notes became legal tender; expansion of the branch network
1936–1945 Nationalisation
1973 Rewriting of the Bank's statutes
1993 A landmark reform granted the Bank independence, in order to ensure price stability, regardless of domestic politics. This reform cleared the path for the European monetary union.
1998 Entered into the European System of Central Banks
Bouvier, Jean. "The Banque de France and the State from 1850 to the Present Day." in Fausto Vicarelli, et al. eds., Central banks' independence in historical perspective (Walter de Gruyter, 1988) pp 73–104.
Jacoud, Gilles. "Crises et Apprentissage: La Banque de France en 1848," Entreprises et Histoire (Dec. 2012) Issue 69, pp 27–37
Plessis, Alain. "The history of banks in France." in Pohl, Manfred, and Sabine Freitag, eds. Handbook on the history of European banks (Edward Elgar Publishing, 1994) pp: 185-296. online
