It’s not so easy to be impeccable! Even if we bear the pompous name of Financial Markets Authority and enjoy the status of financial policeman in France. Recently, it was the Court of Auditors which pointed the finger at the AMF for budgetary management problems in 2023. There is no shortage of details!
The AMF in the red: bad figures from the financial policeman
The AMF, although being the French equivalent of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States, cannot escape the surveillance of the Court of Auditors, the police force somehow. The SEC, too, is often reprimanded by institutions more powerful than it, like elected officials who order it to block any new form of exchange-traded funds or ETFs.
But let’s return to our sheep, or rather to the Financial Markets Authority: last Monday, the Court of Auditors published an unflattering press release about her. Here is an overview of the public finance controller’s less than complimentary comments.
In the world of finance, even the police can get lost in the twists and turns of the figures! Because since 2017, the AMF would have navigated troubled financial waters, according to the Court of Auditors. Indeed, the report accuses the regulator of having plunged into a critical situationeven becoming unsustainable at the end of 2022. Critics are rife, particularly on investments made without sufficient guarantee of available resources. IT projects and premises renovations were singled out.
The numbers don’t lie: the AMF’s cash flow has fallen from 58.5 million euros in 2017 to a meager 3 million euros in the 2023 budget. A financial collapse which could have led the AMF straight towards the cessation of paymentsif the State had not decided to intervene in time by increasing the resources made available to the organization between 2022 and 2024.
A lesson to remember: even financial institutions supposed to keep an eye on things can sometimes find themselves caught in the turmoil of figures and risky investments.
Maximize your Tremplin.io experience with our ‘Read to Earn’ program! For every article you read, earn points and access exclusive rewards. Sign up now and start earning benefits.
