The French Financial Markets Authority, Banque de France and the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority have published an interim report on France’s first exploratory system-wide stress test. The exercise is designed to assess how banks, insurers and asset managers interact under severe market stress, with a focus on transmission channels and second-round effects that sector-specific stress tests do not capture. The report sets out the exercise’s context, objectives, design, governance and methodology, and makes clear that it is exploratory only, with no individual supervisory or prudential consequences and no publication of firm-level results. The authorities frame the exercise as a response to increasingly complex interconnections across the financial system and to recent episodes of systemic liquidity stress, including the March 2020 dash for cash, the Archegos losses in 2021, energy market stress in late 2021 and 2022, and the U.K. gilt crisis in September 2022. France’s domestic non-bank financial intermediation has remained stable at about 30% of the financial sector for 25 years, but the report argues that microprudential resilience in each sector does not by itself ensure system-wide stability. The pilot covers 25 voluntary institutions, comprising five banking groups including all global systemically important banks established in France, nine insurance groups, 10 asset management companies and one central counterparty. Information submitted is treated confidentially, with only aggregate findings and lessons to be published. First-round submissions are still being consolidated and analysed. A second round is scheduled to start in June 2026 and will introduce adjusted constraints reflecting observed aggregate selling pressure and market depth in order to test system convergence. A final synthesis report is expected by the end of 2026.
France Autorite des marches financiers2026-06-17
French Financial Markets Authority Banque de France and Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority publish interim report on pilot system-wide stress test
The French Financial Markets Authority, Banque de France and the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority have issued an interim report on France’s first pilot system-wide stress test. The exploratory exercise covers 25 voluntary institutions across banking, insurance, asset management and clearing, and is intended to identify contagion channels and second-round effects under severe market stress. It will not lead to firm-specific supervisory action, and a final report is due by the end of 2026.