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Who is the AMF: France's financial markets regulator and crypto gatekeeper under MiCA

The AMF is France's financial markets regulator — and, under MiCA, the authority that authorises crypto-asset service providers to operate in France. This guide covers what it does, its two-body structure, how it splits crypto supervision with the ACPR, who chairs it, the fines its Enforcement Committee hands down, and its role under MiCA and DORA — every fact sourced.

Published June 11, 2026 · Updated June 11, 2026 · 11 min read · 10 sources cited

When a crypto company wants to operate legally in France, it goes to the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). France’s financial markets regulator is now the gatekeeper for crypto under MiCA — the authority that grants or refuses authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider. It is also one of France’s two competent authorities under DORA, and the EEA’s heaviest-hitting enforcer by the size of its fines. This is a profile of what the AMF is, what it does, how it divides crypto supervision with the ACPR, and who runs it — with every fact sourced.

Quick facts

  • Full name: Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) — France’s Financial Markets Authority
  • Role: France’s financial markets regulator; the competent authority for CASP authorisation under MiCA and a national competent authority under DORA
  • Legal status: an independent public authority with legal personality and financial independence (AMF — Our missions)
  • Founded: by the Financial Security Act of 1 August 2003, merging the Commission des Opérations de Bourse (COB, created 1967), the Conseil des Marchés Financiers (CMF) and the Conseil de Discipline de la Gestion Financière (CDGF) (AMF — Our missions)
  • Two-body structure: a Board (Collège) of 16 members that regulates, authorises and decides whether to prosecute — and a separate Enforcement Committee (Commission des sanctions) of 12 members that alone imposes fines (AMF — Our governance)
  • Chair: Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani, appointed by presidential decree on 26 October 2022 for a five-year, non-renewable term; she also sits on the ESMA Management Board (AMF — Our governance)
  • Secretary General: Sébastien Raspiller (AMF — Our governance)
  • Staff: more than 500 (AMF — Our missions)
  • Enforcement (2024): 42 sanctions + 9 settlements, €29.4 million — the highest total in the EEA that year (AMF / ESMA report)
  • Record fine: €75 million on H2O Asset Management (decided 30 December 2022, upheld by the Conseil d’État on 13 June 2025) (AMF)
  • Seat: 17 place de la Bourse, 75082 Paris cedex 02
  • Website: amf-france.org

What the AMF is — and what it is not

The AMF is France’s financial markets regulator — an independent public authority charged with safeguarding investments in financial products, ensuring investors get the information they need, and keeping markets running in an orderly way (AMF — Our missions). Its four-word mandate is “regulate, supervise, inform and protect.” It was created by the Financial Security Act of 1 August 2003, merging three older bodies into one markets regulator.

Two things it is not — and both decide which regulator you actually deal with:

  • It is not a data protection authority. France’s GDPR regulator is the CNIL; the AMF’s relevance here is MiCA and DORA, not the GDPR.
  • It is not the prudential supervisor — the regulator that checks whether a firm is financially sound (does a bank hold enough capital, can an insurer pay its claims). Banking and insurance solvency — and the stablecoin side of crypto — sit with the ACPR, France’s prudential authority. The AMF is the conduct-and-markets regulator. The two work in tandem, but they are distinct institutions.

How the AMF is built: prosecutor and judge kept apart

The AMF’s defining feature is that it splits power between two bodies, so that the same hands never both accuse and punish (AMF — Our governance):

  • The Board (Collège) — 16 members appointed by the public authorities, chaired by the AMF Chair. This is the main decision-making body: it adopts the AMF’s rules, grants authorisations (including CASP authorisations under MiCA), examines inspection reports, and decides whether to open enforcement proceedings. What it cannot do is impose a fine.
  • The Enforcement Committee (Commission des sanctions) — a separate body of 12 members with full autonomy and the exclusive power to impose sanctions. When the Board refers a case, the Committee adjudicates it independently, like a tribunal.

This separation of prosecution (the Board) from judgment (the Committee) is deliberate — it keeps the process fair and is why AMF fines hold up on appeal. The Chair may, after consulting the Board, appeal an Enforcement Committee decision.

The AMF under MiCA: the crypto gatekeeper

Under MiCA, the AMF is France’s competent authority for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) — the firms that run exchanges, custody wallets, brokerages and trading platforms for crypto-assets. In practice that means the AMF:

  • authorises CASPs to operate, and can refuse or withdraw authorisation;
  • supervises crypto-asset white papers (the disclosure documents issuers must publish) and market abuse in crypto-asset markets.

Crypto supervision in France is split with the ACPR. The AMF handles CASPs, white papers and market abuse; the ACPR is competent for stablecoins — the e-money tokens (EMTs) and asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) under MiCA — and checks anti-money-laundering aspects during the authorisation process. A firm seeking authorisation deals with both.

There is a hard deadline behind this. Providers already offering crypto services in France under the older national “PSAN” regime (prestataires de services sur actifs numériques — the pre-MiCA French registration) have a transition window: they must secure MiCA authorisation by 30 June 2026 to keep operating beyond 1 July 2026 (AMF).

The AMF under DORA

DORA — the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act — is supervised at national level by the regulators that already oversee each type of financial entity. The AMF is therefore the DORA competent authority for the entities in its remit: investment firms, asset managers, market infrastructures and CASPs. Banks and insurers fall to the ACPR. For the EU-level oversight of critical IT providers and the three European Supervisory Authorities behind DORA, see the DORA pillar and the ESMA and EBA profiles.

Who runs it

The AMF is led by a Chair, appointed by presidential decree for a five-year, non-renewable term. The current Chair is Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani, appointed on 26 October 2022 (succeeding Robert Ophèle); she also represents France on the ESMA Management Board. The day-to-day administration is run by the Secretary General, Sébastien Raspiller, appointed by the Chair (AMF — Our governance). Because the leadership last changed in 2022, an older source naming Robert Ophèle is out of date.

From the COB to the AMF: a short history

  • 1967 — the COB. France created the Commission des opérations de bourse (COB) as its first stock-market watchdog, modelled loosely on the US SEC.
  • 1 August 2003 — the AMF. The Financial Security Act (loi de sécurité financière, no. 2003-706) merged the COB with the Conseil des marchés financiers (CMF) and the Conseil de discipline de la gestion financière (CDGF) into a single regulator, the AMF (AMF — Our missions). One body now covered markets, listed issuers, asset management and investor protection.
  • 2018–2024 — the crypto era. France introduced its national PSAN registration for crypto firms, then handed the role to MiCA — making the AMF the EU-passportable CASP authority it is today.

Resources and 2024 in numbers

The AMF is staffed by more than 500 people and is an independent public authority with its own financial autonomy, separate from the state budget (AMF — Our missions).

On the retail side, the AMF Ombudsman (Médiateur) offers investors free, amicable dispute resolution. In 2024 the Ombudsman received 2,204 requests (up 15%), issued 710 recommendations, and saw favourable recommendations followed 94% of the time by the firms involved (AMF — Ombudsman’s 2024 report).

The Enforcement Committee in action

What sets the AMF apart among EU regulators is the weight of its enforcement. In 2024 it imposed 42 financial and disciplinary sanctions and concluded 9 administrative settlements, for a total of €29.4 million — the highest consolidated total in the EEA that year, almost a third of the more than €100 million imposed across all 29 EEA authorities combined (AMF / ESMA report). Three cases show its range — and how the fines hold up in court.

H2O Asset Management — €75 million (a record), 30 December 2022. In its largest sanction ever, the Enforcement Committee fined the British asset manager H2O AM LLP €75 million, its CEO Bruno Crastes €15 million (plus a five-year ban) and co-founder Vincent Chailley €3 million, for serious breaches in managing French funds — investing in illiquid securities that were not eligible for the funds, which left savers’ money frozen. France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État, upheld the sanctions on 13 June 2025, making them final (AMF).

Terreïs — €2.75 million total, 30 January 2023. The Committee fined three companies and eight individuals between €5,000 and €1 million each — €2,755,000 in total — for insider dealing on confidential information about Swiss Life’s 2018 acquisition of the Paris property company Terreïs. It separately fined Terreïs itself €350,000 (reduced to €200,000 on appeal) for failing to keep its insider list up to date (AMF).

EcoR1 — €10 million, 13 December 2024. The Committee fined the US investment fund EcoR1 and its director a combined €10 million (€7 million and €3 million) for price manipulation — depressing the closing price of Innate Pharma shares on Euronext Paris to lower the price of a Nasdaq share issue (AMF).

Every Enforcement Committee decision is published with the names of those sanctioned, and can be appealed — to the Paris Court of Appeal or the Conseil d’État.

AMF vs ACPR — which French regulator is which

France has two financial regulators, and crypto firms meet both. Keep them straight:

  • AMF — markets and conduct. CASP authorisation, white papers, market abuse. The “can you operate, and are your disclosures and conduct sound?” regulator.
  • ACPR — prudential. Bank and insurer solvency, stablecoin (EMT/ART) issuers, anti-money-laundering. The “are you financially sound and not a money-laundering risk?” regulator. Profiled separately at /regulators/france/acpr.

How to contact the AMF

  • Investor information: the AMF runs Épargne Info Service, a public information line and form for retail investors with questions about products, firms or scams — reachable via amf-france.org.
  • A dispute with a financial firm: the AMF Ombudsman (Médiateur) resolves disputes between investors and intermediaries free of charge, before going to court (AMF — Ombudsman).
  • Report wrongdoing: the AMF operates a whistleblower channel for reporting breaches of financial-markets rules.
  • CASP authorisation (for firms): applications go through the AMF, in coordination with the ACPR (AMF).

What this means for you

  • If you run a crypto-asset service and target French users: the AMF is the authority you apply to for MiCA authorisation — and if you were operating under the old PSAN regime, your deadline to be MiCA-authorised is 30 June 2026 (AMF).
  • If you issue a stablecoin: that is the ACPR’s side, not the AMF’s — but you will still meet the AMF on white-paper and market-conduct questions.
  • If you are a financial entity under DORA: the AMF is your DORA supervisor if it already regulates you (investment firm, asset manager, market infrastructure, CASP); banks and insurers answer to the ACPR.
  • If you are an investor with a complaint: the AMF Ombudsman handles disputes with financial firms for free.
  • If you are a journalist or researcher: “France’s markets regulator” = the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), an independent public authority created by the Financial Security Act of 1 August 2003, seated at 17 place de la Bourse in Paris, chaired by Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani since 2022.

TL;DR

The AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers) is France’s financial markets regulator — an independent public authority created by the Financial Security Act of 1 August 2003 from the merger of the COB, CMF and CDGF. It is built as two bodies kept deliberately apart: a Board (Collège) that regulates and decides whether to prosecute, and an Enforcement Committee (Commission des sanctions) that alone imposes fines — €29.4 million across 42 sanctions and 9 settlements in 2024, the highest total in the EEA. Its record single penalty is the €75 million fine on H2O Asset Management (2022), upheld by the Conseil d’État in 2025. Under MiCA it is France’s competent authority for crypto-asset service providers (CASP authorisation, white papers, market abuse), while the ACPR handles stablecoins and anti-money-laundering; existing PSAN providers must be MiCA-authorised by 30 June 2026. Under DORA it supervises the financial entities already in its remit. It is chaired by Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani, who also sits on the ESMA Management Board. France’s GDPR regulator is the separate CNIL.

Sources