François Villeroy de Galhau: Press Conference

Speech by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, at the Presentation of the 2020 Annual Report of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR), 28 May 2021.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be with you again for the presentation of the 2020 Annual Report of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR – Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority), in the company of the new Vice-Chairman, Jean-Paul Faugère, Dominique Laboureix, Secretary General of the ACPR, and Alain Ménéménis, President of the Sanctions Committee. I would first like to pay tribute to the staff at the ACPR – more than 1,050 men and women whose professionalism is exemplary and recognised – who have worked especially hard, both on-site and remotely, to monitor closely the effects of the economic crisis on financial stability. Exactly a year ago, when we were just at the start of the Covid crisis, I pointed out to you, in this exact same setting, how vigilant we were being and how confident I was, both in the competence of our supervisor and in the resilience of the financial system. Looking back, we haven't done too badly at all: at this stage, the financial risks are, on the whole, under control, thanks to resilient financial institutions with solid fundamentals (I). This reassuring picture should not, however, mask the short-term challenges of the emergence from the crisis, and the more structural challenges that our financial institutions will face over the coming decade (II).