This paper presents the main features of macroprudential policy with a focus on the French case. We first recall the ultimate objective of this policy, which is to prevent and to mitigate systemic risk, ie the risk of “widespread disruptions to the provision of financial services that have serious consequences for the real economy”(CGFS, 2012). We put forward two goals to achieve this ultimate objective, namely (i) increasing the resilience of the financial sector and (ii) leaning against the financial cycle. Then, in the context of the ongoing reflections on the organisation of macroprudential policy at the national and European level, we analyse the macroprudential institutional framework recently adopted in France. We discuss the instruments available to macroprudential authorities in light of the two main goals of macroprudential policy. Drawing on theoretical considerations and past experience, we favour a macroprudential toolkit broadly consistent with the European CRD IV/CRR package. Finally, we emphasise the need for macroprudential authorities to be able to monitor and detect systemic risk. To this end, several indicators and their reliability are analysed.