The candidate for the president of the Republic, Robert Ophèle, to the post of chairman of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), has successfully completed his oral examination on Wednesday before the Senate finance committee : this last, who has auditioned in the early afternoon, has given the green light, by 18 votes for and one blank ballot, to the appointment. The finance committee of the Assembly has also made a favourable opinion by 34 votes in favour, four votes against and one blank ballot. The current second deputy governor of the Bank of France, the Elysée had designated the 11 July, will be succeeded on August 1, Gérard Rameix for a single five-year term at the head of the policeman of the financial markets.
Emmanuel Macron had chosen an open process of recruitment, unprecedented for this type of position : applicants may send directly their CV to an email address dedicated and a panel of personalities had auditioned for the quarantine of applicants to inform the executive in his or her choice.
During his hearing in the Senate, Robert Ophèle, 60 years old, graduated from Essec business school, who has spent his entire career at the Bank of France, in particular on topics related to financial markets, has described his vision of the role of the AMF and the challenges to come.
“In the context of the exit of the Uk from the european Union, the AMF aims to become a reference, otherwise the reference, the supervisors of markets in Europe,” he thus pleaded.
Enjoy the Brexit
Robert Ophèle considers it necessary to strengthen the role of France within ESMA, the european Authority of financial markets, by seconding officers : “The presence of France must be important, if not dominant after the departure of the FCA [Financial Conduct Authority] british “, he said. It has also observed that :
“In five years, the financial system will be profoundly different, more european, more oriented towards direct lending. “
However, even if the Union capital market is ongoing, ” the unique supervision is a long way. It is very far away. “
The Brexit has been the subject of many questions from the senators. The future president of the AMF, which has pointed out that the institution’s role was to ” support the financial industry French, and the place of Paris “, was very firm on the subject of the location in Europe of the clearing activity, supporting the approach of the european Commission: “This is not a question of quality of regulation, but of sovereignty. “
“Deutsche Börse and Euronext have a real card to play to accommodate businesses that wish to be listed in Europe,” he noted.
Capped Budget and lack of resources
The senators have stretched the boom to the issue of means – without getting into an argument, which can be expensive in a period of belt-tightening as we saw in the defense. Because the budget of the AMF is capped by the State since 2014 for reasons of cost savings, to € 94 million in 2017 (as in 2016), while its resources are greater (110.8 million of revenue in the past year), the excess is paid to the State, and its actual expenditure (100 million in 2016), which requires the institution to draw on its reserves. The outgoing chairman Gérard Rameix had also questioned the government on the subject in the beginning of the year. His successor has put the equation another way :
“In the United Kingdom, there are 4,500 people in charge of the supervision of financial markets. In Germany, the Bafin and the Bundesbank, they are 3.000. In France, if one adds the ACPR and the AMF that makes 1,500 people [of which 483 in the AMF, editor’s note]. This challenges still, while the financial sector in France is no less important than in Germany, on the contrary, ” said Robert Ophèle. “Today, all the supervisors are increasing their headcount, in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Luxembourg, the ECB,” he observed.
Asked about the models of unique regulator of the markets of some countries, the future boss of the AMF has ruled out a rapprochement with the prudential supervision Authority and resolution (ACPR), he was up here, on delegation by the governor of the Bank of France :
“The time is not the Meccano institutional. The key is coordination. It works today and will continue to run in the future, ” he argued.
