Capital Markets - The Regulatory Structure

In recent years, the investment business in France was subject to thorough modifications which have largely contributed to the transparent and fair operation of French securities markets and thereby to their development and modernisation. This overview presented by practitioners tends to summarise the essential elements and principal consequences of these changes from both the national and foreign investments' view point.

The regulatory structure for issuing and listing securities in France derives mainly from the law of January 22, 1988 relating to stock exchanges and the law of August 2, 1989 on the Security and Transparency of the Financial Markets, and the company law of July 24, 1966 contains general provisions applicable to securities.