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French Stock exchanges and regulation during World War II1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2010

Kim Oosterlinck
Kim Oosterlinck
Affiliation:
Université libre de [email protected]
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Abstract

Based on archives of the French brokers, the French finance ministry and the occupying forces, this article analyses the motivations of the legal changes imposed on the French exchanges during the war. Most of the measures taken by the Vichy government were meant to stimulate the demand for French state bonds. Three main tools were used to render stocks as unattractive as possible: forced registration, imposition of a maximum threshold for stock prices and taxation. The article suggests that forced registration and the cap on maximum prices were the most efficient tools.

Type
Articles
Information
Financial History Review , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , October 2010 , pp. 211 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V. 2010

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38 Buelens and Willems, ‘De Tweede wereldoorlog’.

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52 Oosterlinck and Riva, ‘Competition among’.

53 Colling, La prodigieuse histoire.

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55 Ibid.

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61 Letter dated 11 Sept. 1940 from the Reichswirtschaftsminister to the head of the German military forces in France, AN AJ40/832.

62 Archives Compagnie des Agents de Change, Euronext Paris [henceforth ACAC], minutes 7 Aug. 1940.

63 ‘Vermerk’, 7 Oct. 1940, AN AJ40/832.

64 Letter dated 11 Sept. 1940 from the Reichswirtschaftsminister to the head of the military forces in France, AN AJ40/832.

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70 Ministère des finances, ‘Note sur l'ouverture de la bourse’, 10 Aug. 1940, AN AJ40/832 4b.

71 ACAC, minutes, 22 Dec. 1941. German observers had previously praised the brokers' discipline (‘Vermerk über die Wiedereröffnung des Aktienmarktes’, 19 Mar. 1941, AN AJ40/832).

72 See CAEF B0061860, B0061861, B65762, B65763 and B65765.

73 ACAC, minutes, 17 Sep. 1940.

74 ACAC, minutes, 22 Dec. 1941. Their presence is nonetheless still mentioned during the 1942 Annual meeting of the CAC. See also Dreyfus, Pillages sur ordonnance.

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76 ‘Vermerk’, 7 Oct. 1940, AN AJ40/832.

77 ACAC, minutes, 16 Dec. 1940.

78 ACAC, minutes, 22 Dec. 1941.

79 Ibid.

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83 ACAC, minutes, 20 Dec. 1943.

84 Caisse Centrale des Dépôts et Virements de Titres (CCDVT), Le nouveau régime des actions au porteur et la caisse centrale des dépôts et virements de titres (Paris, 1943), pp. 3–4.

85 Journal Officiel de l'Etat Français, 5 Mar. 1941.

86 The Banque de France, the largest French financial institutions and the CAC subscribed its capital.

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91 Ibid.

92 This is an estimation of all trades made by 31August 1943. Of course, these figures were given by the CCDVT and should therefore be taken with some caution. CCDVT, Le nouveau régime, p. 10.

93 ACAC, minutes, 20 Dec. 1943.

94 Report by Dr Müller, 18 Feb. 1944, AN AJ40/832. The CCDVT helped the occupying power control trades. The CCDVT system, based on a clearing house, was probably much more efficient than the physical transfer of securities which prevailed in France before World War II. In Germany, such a system was in existence since 1882. François-Marsal, F., Encyclopédie de Banque et de Bourse (Paris, 1931)Google Scholar.

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109 ACAC, minutes, 21 Dec. 1942.

110 ACAC, minutes, 18 Dec. 1944.

111 The author thanks Professors Pedro Arbulu and Georges Gallais-Hamonno, who provided these data.

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127 ACAC, minutes, 10 Feb. 1943.

128 De Rochebrune and Hazera, Les patrons sous l'Occupation.

129 ACAC, minutes, 14 Oct. and 20 Dec. 1943.

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131 Guillorit, La réglementation des bourses.

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134 ACAC, minutes 20 Dec. 1943.

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136 ‘Vermerk über die Wiedereröffnung des Aktienmarktes’, 19 Mar. 1941, AN AJ40/832.

137 ACAC, minutes, 22 Dec. 1941.

138 ‘Bericht über die heutige Konjunktur an der Pariser Börse’, 22 Sep. 1941, AN AJ40/832.

139 Bouthillier, Le drame de Vichy, p. 410.

140 R: laws related to compulsory registration and the CCDVT, T: tax changes, C: price caps.