The Ombudsman presentation

Who is the AMF Ombudsman?

Rémi Bouchez, Honorary Section President of the Conseil d'Etat and former Chair of the ACPR Sanctions Committee, has been appointed AMF Ombudsman with effect from 1 December 2025.

Appointed by the AMF Chair, Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani, the Ombudsman's term of office is three years, renewable. The AMF Ombudsman is listed by the European Commission as an alternative dispute resolution body. AMF mediation is an independent, free, impartial and confidential public service that resolves disputes between retail investors and financial intermediaries out-of-court. It also helps to improve professional practices through the recommendations made to financial market participants.

He is a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, and holds a law degree. He has devoted his career to serving the public interest.

After starting his career in the Budget Department and later the Economic Affairs Department of the General Secretariat of the Government, he was a Conseiller d'État from 2001 to 2019, an assessor in the Litigation Section from 2003 to 2010 and subsequently Deputy President of the Finance Section from 2010 to 2019. In November 2019, he became President of the Administration Section, before taking on the role of Deputy President of the Public Works Section from October 2024 and of judge hearing applications for interim measures in the Litigation Section until October 2025.

In parallel, as a high-ranking judge, he was entrusted with various mandates within public authorities. He joined the ACPR's Sanctions Committee in 2010 as a member, before chairing it from 2013 to 2020. He was also a member of the Cour de Discipline Budgétaire et Financière from 2013 to 2019. Rémi Bouchez has been a member of the Haute Autorité pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique (HATVP) since December 2023.

As Ombudsman, he relies on a team of legal experts led by François Denis du Péage, head of the mediation unit at the AMF’s Retail Investor Relations Directorate.

What is the Ombudsman’s status?

Since 2011 the Ombudsman reports directly to the AMF Chairman and is appointed for a three-year renewable term. He or she receives no instructions on how to handle cases. The Ombudsman publishes an annual report reviewing the cases dealt with during the previous year.

What are the advantages of the mediation procedure?

Mediation is:

• free of charge
• confidential: the information and documents exchanged during the mediation procedure, the names of the parties involved and the Ombudsman’s recommendation may not be disclosed
• impartial: the Ombudsman acts entirely independently
• quick: in principle, the mediation process takes three months from the time when the parties provide the Ombudsman with all the necessary information
• non-binding: the Ombudsman makes a recommendation but the parties are free to reject it
• in accordance with law and equity (fair, equal and equitable).