to review how the expertise of the paris financial marketplace can be used and leveraged. let me highlight the following questions : - why has the european financial market become a major pillar of international finance? - and what are the key advantages offered by the paris financial market place? 1. first, why has the european financial market become a major pillar of international finance to compare favourably with the other large markets of the world? today, europe consists of 27 countries representing a market of around 500 million consumers : the largest domestic market in the world in terms of purchasing power. the acceleration of the integration of european financial markets has radically transformed the international financial environment. all activities are concerned. regarding bond markets, european debt instruments issued in euro on international markets are now quite comparable to those denominated in dollars. if we take into consideration bonds issued on external markets by “ non euro area resident ” companies, foreign governments and multilateral institutions, we can observe that in 2006, total issues of international bonds and notes in euro represented an outstanding of an equivalent of 1, 200 billion ( usd ) against 1, 000 billion ( usd ) in dollars. this fact shows that the euro market has grown considerably since the beginning of the 2000s and today constitutes for corporates and governments a vast, safe and liquid source of funds, wider than that of the us dollar. while the us dollar remains dominant as an international reserve currency ( 65 % of international official reserves against 24 % for the euro ), bond markets have become bipolar with the euro playing a leading role. european equity markets have constantly developed since the 80s although they remain smaller than those of the united states. in terms of ratios of market capitalisation to the gdp of the countries, euro area equity markets represented 55 % in 2005, while those of the united states amounted to 105 % and japan to 85 %. however, the euro area equity market has been growing progressively at an average rate of 10 % per year, since 1999. the share of equities in european investment funds has increased by 3 points since 2002 and amounted to 27 % in 2006, while the proportion remained stable in the united states at 45 %. as regards asset management, we observe that since the launch of the euro in 1999, europe has caught up the united states in terms of the world - wide distribution of investment fund assets. the united states and europe hold the largest market shares in the world, at 50 % and 33 % respectively. 2. in this context, what are the key

christian noyer : european financial markets – opportunities for growth and value creation speech by mr christian noyer, governor of the bank of france, at the first french - indian financial forum, paris europlace, mumbai, 16 may 2007. * * * ladies and gentlemen, in the absence of mr mestrallet, chairman of paris europlace and ceo of suez group, who cannot be with us today because of last minute commitments that require his presence in france, i have the great pleasure of welcoming you to our first french - indian financial forum in mumbai. india ’ s rapid economic growth in recent years makes it an attractive investment destination for international investors. and the economic revival in europe also offers interesting opportunities to indian investors and issuers wishing to diversify their investment strategy. that ’ s why paris europlace believes that we all have a common interest in attending this forum today to discuss business opportunities between european and indian financial markets. i would like to express my warm thanks to my friend dr. rakesh mohan, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, for being with us today. we are also very honoured to welcome mr ashok wadhwa, chairman, capital markets committee of ficci, the partner of paris europlace in the organization of this forum, mr ravi narain, managing director and ceo of the national stock exchange of india ltd and mr peter kurian, chairman of the association of mutual funds in india, as well as all the other distinguished representatives of the indian and french financial communities. as you may know, paris europlace brings together the whole range of market participants – issuers, investors and intermediaries – in order to contribute to the development of european capital markets and promote the paris financial center. the financial industry in india, as in europe, is expanding significantly. and we have already seen in the past few years the flourishing of partnerships between french and indian financial institutions : such as in the asset management industry, the joint venture between sundaram and bnp paribas asset management, or the sgam and sbi mutual funds partnership ; in insurance services, the bharti and axa life insurance partnership, and the joint venture between sbi life and cardiff ; and in online brokerage : current developments involving cortal consors and geojit. it is for this reason that it was decided by paris europlace to focus our program on the development of opportunities and potential new partnerships between mumbai and paris, as well as