| Agency Name: | Financial Markets Authority |
| Nativename: | Autorité des marchés financiers |
| Formed: | 1 August 2003 |
| Jurisdiction: | France |
| Headquarters: |  Paris, France |
| Chief1 Name: | [1] |
| Chief1 Position: | Chairman |
| Website: | http://www.amf-france.org |
The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) (English: "Financial Markets Authority") is the securities commission in France. The AMF is an independent public body that is responsible for safeguarding investments in financial instruments and in all other savings and investments, as well as maintaining orderly financial markets.
France's first securities commission, the (COB,), was established in 1967 as part of the financial reform package promoted by Finance Minister Michel Debré. Its successive presidents included (1973-1974), (1974-1980), (1980-1984), Yves Le Portz (1984-1988), (1988-1989), (1989-1995), and finally Michel Prada (1995-2003).
In 2003, the COB merged with the French: Conseil des Marchés Financiers (CMF,) and the Conseil de Discipline de la Gestion Financière (CDGF,) to form the AMF.
The AMF was established by the Financial Security Act of 1 August 2003, as an independent public body with legal personality and financial autonomy, with the duty of:
It falls under the European regulatory umbrella of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).
Shareholders are required to notify their holdings to the AMF when their stake exceeds or falls below certain thresholds. According to the act of 26 July 2005, the lowest disclosure threshold is 5% (article l. 233-7 of the commercial code). Pursuant, the same article allows that companies can set additional notification thresholds in their articles of association. In July 2012, after Jacques Delmas-Marsalet took on the interim presidency of the AMF, the competent parliamentary committees gave the green light to the appointment of Gérard Rameix as head of the AMF, replacing Jean-Pierre Jouyet.[2] He was appointed Chairman of the AMF by a decree dated August 1.[3]
The successive chairs (French: Président) of the AMF have been: