The Banque de France is the central bank

Central bank

A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a public institution that usually issues the currency, regulates the money supply, and controls the interest rates in a country. Central banks often also oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries...

 of France; it is linked to the European Central Bank

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union that administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU Eurozone member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt,...

 (ECB). Its main charge is to implement the interest rate policy of the European System of Central Banks

European System of Central Banks

The European System of Central Banks is composed of the European Central Bank and the national central banks of all 27 European Union Member States.-Functions:...

 (ESCB). It is headquartered in Paris.

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".

History

• 1716 John Law
  John Law (economist)
  John Law was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself and that national wealth depended on trade...
  
   opens Banque Générale
• 1718 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 Bank

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

French check processing fee controversy of 2010

In 2010 the French government's Autorité de la concurrence fined eleven banks €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...

, especially for extra fees charged during the transition from paper check transfer to "Exchanges Check-Image" electronic transfer.

External links

Official site of Banque de France Beginnings of Banque de France The directors of Banque de France between 1800 and 1815.
http://www.minitel.fr/banque_de_france.htmlBanque de France, Minitel

Minitel

The Minitel is a Videotex online service accessible through the telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful pre-World Wide Web online services. It was launched in France in 1982 by the PTT...

Connection] Banque de France