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Summary Created in 1800 under the Consulate, the Banque de France constituted a remarkably stable institutional environment, both in terms of the missions entrusted to it (the distribution of credit to the economy and, rapidly, the monopoly of monetary issuance) and in terms of its governance structure, which, set by its fundamental statutes (imperial decree of January 16, 1808), did not evolve until the reforms of the Front Populaire in 1936, which increased the control of public authorities over its operations [Asselain, 2011]. At the same time, the development of the Bank's activities throughout France led it to set up a network of branches. Discussed as early as 1802 [Prunaux, 2009a], its establishment began in 1808, and its organization was regulated that same year by the imperial decree of May 18. Article 40 of this decree stipulated that "the particular supervision of the Government of the Bank over the Comptoirs d'Escompte shall be exercised by one or more inspectors appointed by the Governor. However, the modesty of the profits made by the counters, and their subsequent disappearance between 1818 and 1836, justified the abolition of the post of inspector in 1812, barely a year after its effective creation, and soon of the function itself. From the middle of the nineteenth century, the Banque de France absorbed the departmental banks which, covering the territory, paradoxically contributed to its fragmentation by making it a juxtaposition of relatively watertight credit markets: this completed the institution of the Banque de France as a central bank [Leclercq, 1999]. This monetary and banking unification implied the reappearance of branches, and then their multiplication. Making the practice of unannounced and irregular visits by members of the General Council unrealistic, it led to the re-establishment of inspection in 1852. [First paragraph].