T he Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority), (ACPR) is one of the most trustworthy commercial regulators and is in charge of overseeing banks and insurers in France. The ACPR is active in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML-CTF) efforts, as well as helping to improve the financial sector's legitimacy. It was established in 2010 due to the union of the French Banking Commission, the Committee for Credit Card Institutions and Investment Firms (CECEI), and the Mutual Insurance Supervisory Authority (ACAM). Resolution (ACPR) is a government agency that deals with conflict resolution. The ACPR is a government agency that is both financially and administratively autonomous.
The ACPR is organizationally linked to the Banque de France, which manages the country's financial system. This gives it access to the central bank's economic and financial knowledge. Unlike specialized authorities that supervise just one sector, The ACPR precisely controls the banking and insurance sectors. Its goals include protecting clients, insurance policyholders, members, and beneficiaries of companies under its control and actively fighting against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Key Mission of The ACPR
In addition to increasing France's presence in Europe and international negotiations, The ACPR endeavors to provide better financial stability, improve and consumer security, and represent France globally.
- Financial stability: The ACPR aims to ensure continuity and supervise the banking and insurance sectors taking a risk-based approach to prudential regulations. It pursues financial stability for the French financial system by enabling effective rules against AML/CFT after conducting and publishing rules. Also, it seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the various risk profiles and how to respond to the needs of different organizations.
- Customer security: The ACPR aims to protect customers of financial institutions more effectively in collaboration with the financial markets and regulator, AFM, by monitoring compliance with the regulations implemented to protect consumers.
- Global representation: The ACPR is responsible for representing France on the international level, including in EU and multinational banking and insurance bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force , in collaboration with the Banque de France (FATF).
To achieve the key missions, The ACPR follows four critical areas on this path. The first one is licensing of firms which means that it is in charge of granting companies the required licenses to perform banking and insurance activity. Secondly, the ACPR entails continuous monitoring of the companies' financial situation and operational conditions in light of the solvency and liquidity laws that apply to their operations. Lastly, Through implementing the recommendations provided by the numerous European community supervisory bodies and cooperating with responsible authorities in the other Member States, the ACPR contributes to national and European financial stability.
The French supervisory model is distinguished by a fully centralized organizational framework that includes all authorities responsible for financial sector stability. This comprehensive approach provides a more incredible view of the financial system's challenges by accumulating micro and macroeconomic data spanning the entire financial market, including financial services; joint analysis resources and bodies; better integration of steps taken to detect, analyze, avoid, and cope with risks to ensure financial system stability.
The ACPR also assists the French Treasury in drafting laws (Monetary and Financial Code). It also conducts preventive and methodological work with supervised agencies and the implementation of sector compliance standards and principles. Many of these instruments are negotiated with the industry in advance in a consultative process. These tools are arranged in advance with the industry as part of an ACPR College consultative group.
The following are some of the AML-CFT Responsibilities
- Risk evaluation and implementation of an effective internal AML-CFT program, customer identification and information, risk-based transaction due diligence, monitoring of suspicious transactions, and notification of suspicious purchases to Tracfin directly under AML-CFT.
- Asset freezes at the national and European levels, especially those introduced in the fight against terrorism.
Research Capabilities Enhanced by The ACPR
T he Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority) (ACPR) has improved research capabilities, boosting prudential supervision's consistency and giving it a greater voice in global negotiations. The financial crisis revealed a lack of understanding of the causes and processes that distribute human and structural financial difficulties. In order to overcome these limitations and engage in international research programs, the ACPR has been working in recent years to strengthen its in-house research and analytical resources while also supporting external partnerships. Its study has looked at industry risks, stress testing results, and regulatory impact study planning.
The ACPR also develops analytical research and thematic reviews (solvency, liquidity). These cross-cutting assessments enable managers to place particular institutions concerning the rest of the sector, which is a massive help in terms of maintaining successful supervision and identifying individual shortcomings. As a result, the ACPR's review and development programs aim to increase prudential regulation, which helps to enhance control at the administrative level.
