The establishment of the Eurodollar market in Paris and the failure of regulation and reform, 1959–1964

Abstract

The advent of the Eurodollar market under the international monetary system of Bretton Woods (1944–1971) played a crucial role in the re-emergence of post-war international finance. By drawing on multiple historical archives, this article examines several aspects related to the establishment of the Eurodollar market in France between 1959 and 1964. The article argues that the Paris-based but Soviet owned Banque Commerciale pour l’Europe du Nord pioneered offshore banking in Paris and that some of the leading French banks sought Eurodollar regulations and reform in 1963. The Banque de France rejected regulation as it wished to promote Paris as a centre for offshore banking and because it deemed efforts to promote Eurodollar reform at the Bank of International Settlements unrealistic. The Banque de France was a member of the Eurodollar international governance regime that emerged in the 1960s.