Financial stability, artificial intelligence, data quality and financial education at the heart of the discussions at the AMF 2025 international seminar for securities regulators

The AMF brought these authorities together in a 100% digital format from March 10 to 20, 2025 to share their thoughts and views on the new challenges facing regulators given the rapidly changing environment.

Tackling the vulnerabilities in financial markets

In an opening fireside chat, AMF Chair Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani and IOSCO Chairman Jean-Paul Servais discussed their priorities at the international, European, and national levels as well as the increasing role of regulators in tackling financial stability issues, given the growing importance of non-bank finance in the global economy. Within the IOSCO’s Financial Stability Engagement Group (FSEG), which Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani co-chairs with Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the UK Financial Conduct Authority, regulators closely monitor such financial stability considerations, especially in emerging areas such as crypto-assets, tokenization, and operational resilience. The phenomenon of stock market attrition, in a context where private finance is expanding, and the growing exposure of markets to money laundering, were also addressed during the fireside chat as being common issues for regulators, making a call for continued monitoring and cooperation between authorities.

Promoting the Union for savings and investment

On the European front, Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani reiterated the AMF commitment to promoting the Union for savings and investment. Encouraging individual investment is one of the AMF’s main priorities and must be at the heart of this Union project. The abundant savings of European households represent a strategic asset that must be better channeled towards financing the real economy of the European Union. The AMF Chair also expressed the view that the simplification of rules for market participants can only go hand in hand with more harmonized supervision in Europe.

Helping retail investors to better understand risks

Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani also emphasized the importance of financial education to help investors better evaluate risks. This is the purpose of the work carried out by the AMF in 2023 and 2024 with the OECD to better understand the profile of new investors who have entered the stock market since 2020, as well as the “Mysteries of Investopolis” campaign launched by the AMF.

The AMF also exchanged views with its peers on how it conducts its core missions and how it responds to equally pressing issues such as the use of artificial intelligence, decentralised finance, MiCA implementation and data quality in regulatory reporting as well as sustainability reporting, supervision of real estate crowdfunding and private equity/debt funds, and frauds.