FERMER

Duties and activities

The Institut d’émission d’Outre-Mer (IEOM), a Paris-based national public institution, was founded and chartered by the French government in December 1966 and empowered to issue a uniform currency in the French territories of the Pacific.

In addition to its headquarters in mainland France, IEOM’s presence encompasses New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis-and-Futuna. Also, its mandate covers French southern territories of Antarctica.

As a central bank IEOM provides all central banking services but foreign exchange reserves. IEOM’s duties and activities fall into 5 main categories :

Issuing the currency
Providing economic, financial and statistical data
Supervising the banking system
Conducting the monetary policy
Providing central banking services to the banking community, companies, individuals, and public institutions

Issuing the currency

IEOM issues the currency being legal tender in these territories : the "franc CFP" (international code : XPF). The convertibility of the franc CFP is guaranteed by the French Republic. This convertibility is based upon a fixed parity with the euro :
1,000 F CFP = 8.38 EUROS
or 1 F CFP = 0.00838 EURO
More precisely, IEOM issues F CFP bank-notes and F CFP coins. The former have a face value of 10,000, 5,000, 1,000 and 500 F CFP. The latter have a face value of 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 F (…)

Supervising the banking system

IEOM contributes to maintaining the stability of the banking system and to protecting deposits and savings in cooperation with national supervision and regulation institution : "ACP".

Conducting the monetary policy

IEOM orientates the credit policy through the refinancing - at a discount rate - of short- and medium-term loans granted by banks to sound companies that belong to priority economic sectors.
Monetary policy decisions made by the IEOM Board take into account the specificity of these territories as well as their sensitivity to globalization.

Providing economic, financial and statistical data

IEOM carries out surveys and studies on key economic sectors and indicators, and publishes a monthly economic letter and quarterly economic and financial bulletins.
Besides, IEOM releases an annual report in which the economic and financial situation of each territory is analyzed. The annual report also makes up the balance of payments of New Caledonia and French Polynesia.
English publications - New Caledonia

Providing central banking services to the banking community, companies, individuals, and public institutions

IEOM provides banks, companies, individuals and public institutions with central banking services ranging from corporate ratings, financial statements database, interbank transfers, unpaid cheques database, corporate risks database, to public and private money transfers between the territories and metropolitan France.