The Bank of France opens up
"Open Data Room" holds 400 million sets
As a central hub in the financial system, the Bank of France holds treasures not only in terms of financial value but also in data. Up until recently, this wealth of information was kept as closed as the vaults containing the gold. Since the beginning of November this changed when the bank's governor, François Villeroy de Galhau, officially opened the Bank's Open Data Room. In this room situated on the premises of the bank, selected researchers are granted access to 400 million datasets with information on primarily financial organisations and enterprises.
Although the privacy of the concerned entities will be ensured by a thorough anonymisation of the data, the datasets still have a richness in detail unprecedented in Europe. The selected researchers can make use of the computing power and facilities to accommodate their needs when processing the big volumes of data. To ensure the visitors can reap the potential of the data to its limit, experts of the Bank accompany them during their visit and provide assistance where needed.
The opening of the Open Data Room is part of a bigger strategy of the Bank of France to become more transparent and open. This was also underlined in the inauguration speech of the Governor during which he stressed the importance for the Bank of being open and innovative. This ambition of the Bank of France is shared by a number of other central banks worldwide. For example the central banks of Germany and the United Kingdom have adopted Open Data in their policies. Want to know more about the inauguration of the Open Data Room? The link below presents a clear overview of the details.
