François Villeroy de Galhau: "Where there is danger, a rescuing element grows as well"
Speech of Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, at the Paris Finance Forum, Paris, 10 June 2025.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to participate in this latest edition of the Paris Finance Forum, and I would like to warmly thank Augustin de Romanet and Jean-Charles Simon for their invitation. This year, Paris has once again demonstrated its vibrancy by climbing to fourth place in the OFEXi ranking of global financial centres. The fact remains, however, that this has been an unprecedented year, both for the global economy and for finance. I propose taking solace in the words of the German poet Hölderlin: "where there is danger, a rescuing element grows as well".ii I will outline three threats (1) before inviting us to take three winning gambles (2).
1) A pivotal year with a combination of three threats
1.1. (Geo)political unpredictability
The first threat is clearly (geo)political unpredictability, amplified this year by the shift in US policy.