The [French] Regulatory Authority of the Financial Markets: Comparative Study France

The existence of a "financial regulator" whose mission is to control the financial markets is a widespread phenomenon that faces legal systems with a delicate issue: that of the integration of this regulator in the classic institutional landscape. It is this question which is at the core of research in comparative law between France and the Middle East. The formula, being of an Anglo-Saxon origin, is intriguing for its functional and structural originality. The evaluation of this phenomenon begins with the study of the specificity of the regulatory function. The question is how to apprehend that the financial regulator combines normative, administrative and litigation functions. Would not it divest the legislator, the judge and the executive of a part of their own activities? The analysis reveals that the purpose of the financial regulator is to function as a complement to the State's powers. The financial regulator doesn't constitute a fourth power itself; it rather diffuses the art of the regulation resulting from its status as a markets watchdog and its moral authority. The functional approach is complemented by examining the status of the financial regulator. What position does it occupy while combining both private and public elements? The study shows that the financial regulator is resistant to conventional legal distinctions. It is halfway between the State and the market surpassing by that the boundaries of the public/private law. In fact, it is nourished by private values through associating professionals in the regulation, using contractual mechanisms to resolve disputes, and submission to the judicial court control. However, it maintains, at the same time, a specific public status to ensure its independence. The result is the emergence of a new third mode of action whose purpose is the exercise of a new function of the State, which is the regulation, whose advent requires designing an unprecedented institutional formula.