Sign in

Private company

John Law's Bank

Defunct financial institution

John Law's Bank (French: banque de John Law) was a short-lived but highly consequential financial institution in the Kingdom of France, started by John Law in May 1716 as a private-sector joint-stock company, nationalized in December 1718, and acquired by his Company of the Indies in February 1720. It was France's first bank of issue, and has also been referred to as the country's first central bank.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

May 2, 1716Founded1
  • Industrycentral banking1
  • HeadquartersParis1

See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards

Sceau de la Banque royale (1719)
Photo: DucdEnghien, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

John Law's Bank (French: banque de John Law) was a short-lived but highly consequential financial institution in the Kingdom of France, started by John Law in May 1716 as a private-sector joint-stock company, nationalized in December 1718, and acquired by his Company of the Indies in February 1720. It was France's first bank of issue, and has also been referred to as the country's first central bank.2

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded by Bank of France1

Timeline

  1. 1720Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. May 2, 1716Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3