Crédit Agricole

Crédit Agricole S.A. (CASA) is the largest retail banking group in France, second largest in Europe and the eighth largest in the world by Tier 1 capital according to The Banker magazine. It is also part of the CAC 40 stock market index.

It was the title sponsor of the Crédit Agricole professional road cycling team from 1997 to 2008.

Structure of the group

Crédit Agricole S.A. is majority owned by 39 French co-operative retail banks, Caisses Régionales de Crédit Agricole Mutuel. Its subsidiaries include:

• Credit Agricole CIB, the investment banking division of Crédit Agricole.
• Newedge, global futures and options brokerage serving institutional investors (50-50 joint venture with Société Générale).
• CACEIS Investor Services, Asset servicing entity, joint venture with Natixis
• Cheuvreux, the European and American securities brokerage division.
• CLSA, the Asian securities brokerage division.
• Predica and Pacifica, the insurance divisions
• Amundi, its asset management subsidiary, jointly with Société Générale.
• Uni-Éditions, a French magazine publisher
• Cariparma FriulAdria, an Italian bank
• Crédit Agricole Egypt, an Egyptian bank
• Crédit Agricole Srbija, a Serbian bank
• Crédit du Maroc, a Moroccan bank
• Emporiki Bank, a Greek bank 91% owned by CA.
• LCL (Previously Crédit Lyonnais), a French bank
• Credit Agricole Bank Polska S. A. (Previously LUKAS Bank S. A.), a Polish bank
• Index Bank, a Ukrainian bank

Key services

Through its subsidiaries, Crédit Agricole SA is involved in the following services:

• French Retail Banking
• International Retail Banking
• Specialised Financial Services
• Asset Management, Insurance and Private Banking
• Corporate and Investment Banking

Market presence

The Caisses Régionales (e.g. Crédit Agricole Normandie in the Lower Normandy region) mainly focus on rural areas and less on urban ones. However, the Crédit Lyonnais subsidiary has a significant presence in the big cities; the combination gives the Crédit Agricole group a leading market share in France.

Through all of its subsidiaries, Crédit Agricole SA has in excess of 21 million clients and a presence in over 60 countries.

The current objective of the group is to develop a strong presence in various other European banking markets by acquiring stakes in local banks in other countries.

Head office

The head office is located in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, 91-93 boulevard Pasteur. The building was inaugurated in 1966. Edgar Faure, the Minister of Agriculture, was supposed to attend the inauguration but was in a negotiation in Brussels. Faure's predecessor, Edgar Pisani, cut the ribbon for the building. After renovations to the Crédit Agricole head office occurred in 1995 and 1997, the employees who were formerly based in the Tour Montparnasse moved into the CA head office.^[2]

Controversy

In 2010 the French government's Autorité de la concurrence (the department in charge of regulating competition) fined eleven banks, including Crédit Agricole, the sum of 384,900,000 Euros for colluding to charge unjustified fees on check processing, especially for extra fees charged during the transition from paper check transfer to "Exchanges Check-Image" electronic transfer.^[3][4]

See also

• European Financial Services Roundtable

References

External links

• Official website