Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very happy to be here today for this 8th International Insurance Conference - the first to be organised under the aegis of the French Insurance Federation - and I would particularly like to extend my regards to the federation's Chairman, Bernard Spitz, as well as to its vice-chairmen. Although I have met you all several times in the past year, this is the first time I have participated in an event in my capacity as Chairman of the ACPR, the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution. Rest assured that at the ACPR, I - indeed we - regard the insurance sector as every bit as important as the banking sector. With a total of 826 licensed firms in France in 2015, oversight of the insurance sector is a vital part of our mission to safeguard financial stability - which, alongside monetary strategy and the provision of services to the economy, forms part of my threefold mandate as Governor of the Banque de France.
