Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to begin by thanking you for inviting me to take part in this lunch on the occasion of the General Assembly of the Office de Coordination Bancaire et Financière (OCBF) and OCBF Services et Formation. Unfortunately, the geopolitical context is less cheerful, given in particular the exceptionally high degree of uncertainty created by the shifts in policy and unpredictability of the new US administration, which is weighing on our economic and financial situation.
As the Governor of the Banque de France recently stated in his annual Letter to the President of the Republic, this context must not overwhelm us; on the contrary, it should encourage us to take action to regain control of our economic destiny. France and Europe need more growth and innovation. And the financial sector can and must act as one of the levers to help address this need. In order to encourage and assist the financial sector in this endeavour, should its regulatory framework be changed? The debate is underway, particularly on what form such changes should take, against a backdrop where the United States intends to lean towards deregulation.
From my perspective as a supervisor, deregulation is not the right response to this question. Instead, the response should be better regulation through improvements that help to support growth and innovation on the one hand and to safeguard an asset – our banking system, and financial system more broadly – in a world of proliferating shocks and great uncertainty.
