The Bank of France long held high prestige as an anchor of financial stability, especially before the monetary turmoil that followed World War I.

In 1907, Italian economist and statesman Luigi Luzzatti referred to the Bank of France as "the centre of the world's monetary power.

[4] It saw great initial success, increasing industry 60% in two years, but Law's mercantilist policies saw him seek to establish large monopolies, leading to the Mississippi bubble.

These powerful bankers, representative of the financial elite that would become referred to in France as the Haute banque, were deeply involved in the agitations leading up to the French Revolution.

[citation needed] When the revolutionary violence got out of hand, they orchestrated the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, whom they regarded as the restorer of order.

[9][10][11] Under Émile Moreau, Governor from 1926 to 1930, the Bank consolidated gold reserves created a stabilization insurance fund (fonds de stabilisation), and tested new monetary policies in the wake of a global depression.

Today, the ECB sets monetary policy and oversees price stability for all countries in the Eurozone, including France.

[citation needed] On 1 June 1998, a new institution was created, the European Central Bank (ECB), charged with steering the single monetary policy for the euro.

[14][15] The Bank recently established a "Lab", located on the Rue Réaumur in Paris, where start-ups and small businesses work on blockchain, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality.

The Banque de France manages procedures to resolve overindebtedness, and while its premises are no longer open to the public, requests continue to be processed.

[16] The Bank of France describes itself as responsible for three missions: monetary strategy, financial stability, and services to the economy.

A decree on 6 March 1808 authorized the Bank to purchase the former mansion of the Count of Toulouse in the rue de la Vrillière in Paris for its headquarters.

[7] The bank's head office subsequently expanded from that original property, through the acquisition and remodeling of adjacent buildings and in the surrounding neighborhood.

A major expansion occurred in 1924-1927 as part of an urban renewal project that entailed the demolition of several historical buildings and the creation of a new thoroughfare, the rue du Colonel-Driant [fr].

It entailed the erection of a new complex for the bank above a large underground bunker known as the Souterraine [fr], designed by architect Alphonse Defrasse.