Banque de France

Banque de France
	Banque de France
Logo	One of the Banque de France's offices in Paris
Headquarters	Paris, France
Established	18 January 1800
Governor	Christian Noyer
Central bank of	France
Website	www.banque-france.fr
Preceded by	Banque Royale
Succeeded by	European Central Bank (1999)1
	1 The Bank of France (Banque de France) still exists but many functions have been taken over by the ECB.

The Banque de France is the central bank of France; it is linked to the European Central Bank (ECB). Its main charge is to implement the interest rate policy of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It is headquartered in Paris.

[edit] Linkage with the ESCB

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".

[edit] History

1716 John Law opens the Banque Générale
1718 The Banque Générale is acquired by the government and renamed Banque Royale
1800 Creation of the Banque de France by Napoleon Bonaparte
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 the European System of Central Banks

[edit] Controversy

In 2010, the French government's Autorité de la concurrence (the department in charge of regulating competition) fined eleven banks, including Banque de France, the sum of €384,900,000 for colluding to charge unjustified fees on check processing, especially for extra fees charged during the transition from paper check transfer to "Exchanges Check-Image" electronic transfer.^[1]^[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Collusion in the banking sector, Press Release of Autorité de la concurrence, République Française, 20 September 2010, retrv 20 September 2010
^ 3rd UPDATE: French Watchdog Fines 11 Banks For Fee Cartel , Elena Bertson, Dow Jones News Wires / Wall Street Journal online, retr 20 September 2010