Yves Millardet

Chairman Agence France Locale (AFL)

A local authority finance agency is a financial institution that serves as a vehicle for local government authorities to access capital markets for the purpose of jointly procuring credit for public investment projects through subsidised credit contracts. Local authorities are therefore the finance agency’s sole shareholders, the sole beneficiaries and the sole guarantors. It works as a co-operative agency where participating local authorities come together in order to ensure low interest rates on loans, based on the creditworthiness of participant members. This cooperation can also help the local authorities to achieve a higher credit rating than if they act independently. Created in 2013, Agence France Locale (AFL)'s main mission is to finance the investment of member local authorities. AFL is a real tool for diversifying financing that helps to promote decentralisation and increase the capacity of local authorities.