Characteristics of the co-operative banking model

COPY RIGHT BY - HTTP://WWW.EACB.COOP

Deeply anchored within the local economy

Co-operative banks are key actors in the European society. They provide access to finance at local level and are widespread even in remote areas of the continent. More than 59,000 outlets offer close and unique relationships with customers. The European co-operative movement also reflects the tradition of responsibility and social cohesion since their creation in the 19th Century. Their wide-ranging networks oftenmake them the main employers and taxpayers in their own regions. Co-operative banks employ approximately 749,000 people in Europe.

Property of their own members/customers

Clients can become members/owners of co-operative banks with relatively small investments. As a result, they have a direct say in the business and are involved in the governance, strategy and risk management processes. The core business of co-operative banks is value creation for their members and a long-term relationship of trust, opposed to the profit maximization approach of the mainstream banks.

One person = one vote

Co-operative banks bring together modernity, innovation and the traditions of the founding fathers of the movement, like Raiffeisen and Schulze-Delitzsch. They comply with the banking and co-operative legislation of their respective countries, with the key principle of one person=one vote, found in the EACB Statute. Their unique stakeholders structure brings about efficiency and sound governance: members control the co-operative by exerting checks and balances at each level of the business. This minimises the organisation’s risk, identifies creditworthiness and gives immediate response to customers’ needs.

Sound business practices and resilient structures

Co-operative banks generally have a high level of capitalisation, stable incomes from retail business and a diversified credit portfolio. Credit ratings reflect this very well; ranging between AA and AAA for the largest co-operative banking groups in Western Europe. Stakeholders banks are able to face the challenges of the new post-crisis environment because their business model responds to the present needs and expectations.

Financing the real economy

Co-operative banks contribute to stability thanks to their proximity to their clients. They continue to provide credit to their clients and members in good and bad times. They are key players in financing the real economy: the households and the SMEs on our territories. In Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands, co-operative banks’ market share in loans ranges between 25% and 45%. In those same markets SMEs represent between 20% and 50% of the total client portfolio of co-operative banks.

Leading the way in the field of social responsibility

Co-operative banks foster self-help, responsibility and solidarity. They emphasize the common good of society. They were historically founded to improve access to finance for their members, who would otherwise have had limited access to finance at reasonable rates. As a result, co-operative banks take part in a range of schemes, such as microfinance and financial education of long-term unemployed personnel. They also traditionally foster the development of their communities through cultural sponsorship and responsible citizenship. Co-operative banks are among the market leaders for Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) products such as funds and savings accounts. Nowadays, green finance is gaining an increasing importance; customers can contribute to the preservation of the environment through a variety of investment solutions.

- See more at: http://www.eacb.coop/en/cooperative-banks/definition-and-characteristics.html#sthash.tKYffu96.dpuf

THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF CO-OPERATIVE BANKS (EACB)

copy right by - http://www.eacb.coop

THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF CO-OPERATIVE BANKS (EACB)

The Voice of Co-operative Banks

The European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB) represents, promotes and defends the common interests of its 27 member institutions and of cooperative banks, with regard to banking as well as to co-operative legislation.

Founded in 1970, today the EACB is a leading professional lobbying association in the European banking industry. Co-operative banks play a major role in the financial and economic system.

They contribute widely to stability thanks to their anti-cyclical behaviour, they are driver of local and social growth with 4,050 locally operating banks and 58,000 outlets, they serve 210 million customers, mainly consumers, SMEs and communities.

Europe’s co-operative banks represent 81 million members and 749,000 employees and have an average market share of about 20%.

Missions & Statutes

Interest Representation

As the official spokesperson towards the European institutions, the EACB commits to provide a high quality, credible voice for our 4,200 member banks. The expertise and professionalism of its staff allows the EACB to make relevant contributions in European Parliament committees, in the consultations of the European Institutions, in EU expert panels and in other relevant hearings. This input supplies co-operative banks with a frame to best serve their members and clients at a local level.

Dedication to its Members

According to the EACB’s governance principles, each full member is given the same weight in the decision-making process, regardless of its size, country of origin or its financial contribution. Furthermore, our credo “Everything we do – Everything you know” ensures the commitment of our Secretariat to inform, consult, consider and respect all opinions and advices from the members. Finally, the EACB supports the code of conduct on lobbying and is registered in the EU lobby register.

Promotion of Co-operative Values

The EACB supports and promotes the values of the co-operative business model in European and international institutions, offering an alternative to the “shareholder value model” and the financial market-oriented institutions. Central to these values is the principle of democracy “One person - One vote”. The core values of this business model of Co-operative banks are; democracy -materialised by the co-operative share, a strong commitment to social values and the proximity offered by the network of more than 68,000 bank branches to its customers.

 See more at: http://www.eacb.coop

-

ational Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR)
President	Uwe Fröhlich
Chairperson	Gerhard Hofmann, Andreas Martin
Founded	1972
Headquarters	Berlin (Bonn until 2001)

BVR Headquarter Berlin

The National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR) (German: Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken) is the umbrella association for the cooperative banking sector in Germany. As of 2015 it had 1,021 members, which represents all the cooperative banks in Germany, including local cooperative banks, PSD banks, Sparda banks, Church banks and Cooperative financial institutions. The cooperative banking sector in Germany has a balance sheet of 1,081 billion Euros and employs around 191,000 members of staff.

The BVR represents the interests of the German Cooperative Financial Institutions at both national and international levels and coordinates and develops the joint strategy within the Network. The BVR advises and supports his members on legal, taxation, and business management issues.

The Cooperative Financial Network's protection scheme, is Germany's oldest Deposit Guarantee Scheme for banks and is run by the BVR. The BVR informs its member banks on economic and political developments and publishes the "Bank-Information” newsletter. European Affairs are being dealt with by a representation in Brussels. The BVR is member of the European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB).

Structure]

Board of Managing Directors, Association Council, Administrative Board, and general meeting of members – these four governing bodies carry out the BVR's duties as an association.

Board of Managing Directors

The three-strong Board of Managing Directors, which is appointed by the Administrative Board, manages the BVR's business operations and represents the BVR externally.

Administrative Board

The Administrative Board is composed of 12 members of the Association Council. The Administrative Board advises the Board of Managing Directors on matters of banking business and banking policy. It also has the job of supervising the Board of Managing Directors and monitors how the Board of Managing Directors runs the protection scheme. Chairman of the administrative board is in accordance with the Articles of Association the respective chairman of the association council.

Association Council

The Association Council comprises up to 50 members, 12 of whom make up the Administrative Board. The Association Council decides on the Network's strategic direction. It approves the strategic projects devised by special committees. The Chairman of the Association Council takes over with its election in accordance with the Articles of Association at the same time the chairmanship of the Administrative Board.

General meeting of members

The place for democratic decision-making in the Cooperative Financial Network is the general meeting of members, at which every institution has a vote, irrespective of its size. It convenes at least once a year.

Crédit Agricole and creation of the local and regional banks

copy right - https://en.wikipedia.org   - 

Financial and market data

The cooperative investment certificates of 15 Regional Banks, and the shares of Crédit Agricole S.A., the Group holding company, are listed on the Paris stock exchange. Crédit Agricole S.A. is also a member of the Dow Jones, Euro Stoxx 50, SBF 120, Euronext 100, ASPI Eurozone and FTSE4Good Index.

Crédit Agricole Group data

The Crédit Agricole Group comprises all the Local and Regional Banks, Crédit Agricole S.A. and all their subsidiaries.

Financial data in € million

Years	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013[39]
Net banking income	23,886	24,320	25,949	29,156	29,610	28,455	31,305	-	-	30,682	31,178
Net income Group share	2,757	4,248	5,980	7,154	5,970	2,451	2,747	-	-	4,248	4,248
Shareholders' equity	38,610	44,491	51,235	58,743	64,800	63,700	68,800	-	-	-	-

Crédit Agricole S.A. Group data

The Crédit Agricole S.A. Group comprises the holding company, Crédit Agricole S.A., as well as all its subsidiaries.

Financial data in € million

Years	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013[39]
Net banking income	12,720	12,513	13,693	16,187	16,768	15,956	17,942	20,129	20,783	15,954	16,015
Net income Group share	1,140	2,203	3,891	4,920	4,044	1,024	1,125	1,263	1,470	6,471	2,505
Shareholders' equity	23,600	24,940	30,682	38,452	40,691	41,700	45,500	-	-	-	-

Crédit Agricole and creation of the local and regional banks

Crédit Agricole and creation of the local and regional banks

Before the letter and attach

copy right - https://en.wikipedia.org   - 

Crédit Agricole in the 21st Century

The headquarters of Crédit Lyonnais, which was acquired by the Crédit Agricole Group in 2003

Picking up the pace of business diversification 2001 - 2008

The 21st Century saw the group continue to diversify its business line-up. Finaref was acquired in 2003. That same year, Crédit Agricole acquired Crédit Lyonnais in a friendly takeover orchestrated by then Chairman of the Board René Carron after a market battle was triggered by the government’s decision to auction off its stake in Crédit Lyonnais in December 2002. The two banks were combined in 2003 and 2004, which led to the different business lines being grouped into subsidiaries. This included the creation of Calyon in 2004 from the merger of the corporate and investment banking activities of Crédit Lyonnais and Crédit Agricole Indosuez. Crédit Lyonnais focused on retail banking and was rebranded as LCL in August 2005.

Between 2004 and 2005, the Regional Banks and Crédit Agricole S.A. embarked on a major development plan aimed at bolstering the Regional Banks’ leading positions in France by gaining a greater presence in major cities, while at the same time increasing the Group’s international reach. Businesses were established in Egypt, Ukraine, Serbia, Greece, Italy and Portugal. In 2006, Crédit Agricole Assurances was created to bring together the Pacifica and Predica brands.

In 2007, the group starting to part away from newly formed Italian banking giant Intesa Sanpaolo, which Crédit Agricole was the largest shareholder of Banca Intesa, despite on 22 January 2007 Crédit Agricole still acted as the third largest shareholder of Intesa Sanpaolo. On 1 March 2007 Crédit Agricole acquired 202 former Banca Intesa branches, as well as Cariparma and FriulAdria from Intesa Sanpaolo. In 2011 Crédit Agricole acquired Carispezia from Intesa Sanpaolo, as well as 96 branches directly from Intesa Sanpaolo. In 2012 Crédit Agricole finally sold all the shares of Intesa Sanpaolo.

Business overview

The group’s acquisitions enabled it to strengthen its leadership in French retail banking, expand its position in corporate and investment banking and build up its international network of branches and subsidiaries. By now, the group was the number-one bank in France with 28% of the domestic market, the global number-two by revenues and number-ten by profits, according to Fortune magazine, and number-15 worldwide according to Forbes rankings.

Crédit Agricole and the 2008 - 2012 crisis

When the interbank lending market seized up, Crédit Agricole was forced in January 2008 to sell its long-standing stake in Suez for €1,3 billion and then in May 2008 to organise a €5.9 billion rights issue to which all the Regional Banks subscribed to meet Basel II regulatory requirements. It also undertook a €5 billion programme of non-strategic asset disposals.

At the end of 2008, the government decided to loan France’s six largest banks €21 billion in two tranches, at an interest rate of 8%, to enable them to continue to play their role in the economy. Crédit Agricole did not take part in the second tranche^] and repaid the government in October 2009. Crédit Agricole’s crisis exit strategy was well received by the markets, with the share price gaining more than 40% over 2009.

In 2012, Crédit Agricole continued to report negative results, posting a loss of around €3 billion in the third quarter. The Greek branch Emporiki was separated from its profitable wealthy parts in Albania, Bulgaria and Romania which were integrated into the Crédit Agricole group. The whole investment into Emporiki cost around €9 billion. The remaining Greek part was sold off to Alpha Bank for €1. Crédit Agricole also withdrew totally from Spanish bank Bankinter, resulting in a book loss of €193 million, and took a massive €600 million write-down on consumer credit, notably owing to difficulties in Italy.^[21] Furthermore, Crédit Agricole had to write down the goodwill on its balance sheet. Goodwill amounted to €17.7 billion in September 2012, well above the actual value. In early February 2013, the bank announced that it would book €3.8 billion in writedowns and costs – a record amount according to the media.

Getting back to fundamentals from 2014

In March 2014, the Crédit Agricole Group unveiled its medium-term strategic plan^] which put the emphasis on retail banking, insurance and saving. Internationally, the group decided to refocus on its core markets, starting with Italy, the group’s second-largest market.

The Crédit Agricole Group sold its Bulgarian subsidiary to Corporate Commercial Bank for €160 million.On 22 April 2014, Crédit Agricole S.A., Crédit Agricole Nord and Crédit Agricole Nord-Est announced that they would sell 50% of their stake in Crelan S.A., a Belgian bank created out of the merger of Crédit Agricole Belgique and Centea, to Caisses coopératives belges by June 2015

Corporate governance

Crédit Agricole has a three-tier structure, comprising the Local Banks, the Regional Banks (and their branches and equity investments) and Crédit Agricole S.A. (and its subsidiaries). The Local and Regional Banks are cooperative companies. Crédit Agricole S.A. is a joint-stock company. Crédit Agricole is one of the leading cooperative companies in the world.

Local Banks

The 2,509 Local Banks form the foundation of Crédit Agricole. They have 7.4 million stakeholders (December 2013), who are both clients and owners of the share capital (through ownership shares) of the Local Banks, in accordance with the cooperative governance principle.

The Local Banks hold the bulk of the capital of the Regional Banks. At the annual general meetings of the Local Banks, which attract around 500,000 participants every year, the stakeholders appoint over 32,000 volunteer directors.

Regional Banks

Crédit Agricole’s Regional Banks are cooperative entities and fully-fledged banks, offering a wide range of financial products and services to their 20 million clients (end-2008). They boast a network of some 7,200 branches and 12,000 ATMs, plus more than 7,000 in-store cash points, which provide Crédit Agricole customers with basic banking services. Some Regional Banks have merged to improve their financial strength and competitiveness, with the total number of Regional Banks falling from 94 to 39 between 1988 and 2008.

Preventing exclusion from banking services

To prevent customers affected by a personal event, such as a death or unemployment, from being excluded from banking services, 30 Regional Banks have set up Point Passerelle centres, which provide a friendly ear, mediation and support for clients looking for help to get out of a difficult situation. Caisse Régionale du Nord-Est first introduced the system in 1997.

Promoting employment for people with disabilities

Through an association set up to promote the employment of people with disabilities within Crédit Agricole (HECA), the Crédit Agricole Regional Banks devote resources to the recruitment, integration and continued employment of disabled workers. Measures include workstation modifications, transport facilities and training. Since a lack of training makes it harder for people with disabilities to get work, Crédit Agricole has set up work/study training programmes to enable people who have their high school diploma to receive post-secondary qualifications. The goal was to recruit more than 800 disabled persons between 2006 and end-2010, and by end-2009, more than 360 permanent contracts and 670 work/study contracts had been signed.Former Miss France runner-up Sophie Vouzelaud, who has been deaf from birth, is HECA’s official ambassador.

Promoting the cooperative model

The Regional Banks help to promote the cooperative model locally through a variety of initiatives, such as the Perspectives Mutualistes conference series (Pau in 2006, Angers in 2007, Reims in 200831, Orléans in 2009), and by issuing special bank cards for stakeholders.

Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole

Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole (FNCA) is the body through which the Regional Banks discuss policy, express their views and represent themselves. FNCA plays the role of a trade body. It is a forum for discussions that arise at the grass-roots level, and it plays a proactive, guiding role. It represents Crédit Agricole’s Regional Banks and the Group with respect to the public authorities, agricultural trade associations and bodies with authority for cooperative and mutual banking. FNCA provides services to Regional Banks, particularly in the fields of vocational training, through the Crédit Agricole Mutuel training centre, and human resource management. The senior management team is represented by:

• Dominique Lefebvre, Chairman of Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole,
• Philippe Brassac, Secretary General of Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole,
• Bertrand Corbeau, CEO of Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole.

Crédit Agricole S.A.

New headquarters of Crédit Agricole S.A. in Montrouge

In 1988, Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole was privatised, becoming Crédit Agricole S.A., a public limited company owned by the Regional Banks and Group employees. In 2001, Crédit Agricole S.A. was floated on the stockmarket, although the Regional Banks (44 at the time) retained a majority share, as provided for by the group’s mutual articles of association.

Senior management of Crédit Agricole S.A.

• Chairman: Dominique Lefebvre
• CEO: Philippe Brassac

Board of directors

The Board is made up of members elected by the Annual General Meeting, representatives of trade organisations, members elected by employees, a non-voting member and a representative of the Works Council.

A complex structure

The Regional Banks own 54% of Crédit Agricole S.A., which in turn holds 25% of their capital in the form of non-voting cooperative securities (certificats coopératifs d'associés). An internal debate is continually underway on striking a balance between growing activities that serve the Regional Banks directly and promoting businesses that lie outside their sphere. Institutional investors, particularly in the UK and US, are not always at ease with this approach.

Brand identity

Slogan

• 1976 to 1987: “Le bon sens près de chez vous” ("Common sense close to home")
• 1987 to 1994: “Le bon sens en action” ("Common sense in action");
• 1994 to 2005: “L'imagination dans le bon sens” (“Imagination guided by common sense”);
• 2005 to 2011: “Une relation durable, ça change la vie” (“A lasting relationship changes your life”);
• Since 2011: “Le bon sens a de l’avenir” (“Common sense has a future”).

Visual identity

• 

  1948: the first official logo, conveying Crédit Agricole’s exclusive focus on the agricultural sector.
 
• 

  1959: Crédit Agricole adopts a second logo to express the firm’s strong involvement in the development of France42.
 
• 

  1971: third logo, combining the letters C and A.
 
• 

  1987: creation of the current logo, which summarises the group’s desire to continue to move forward and to favour openness towards the outside world.

Crédit Agricole and creation of the local and regional banks

copy right - https://en.wikipedia.org

History

In the second half of the 19th Century, French farmers struggled to obtain long-term, flexible, reasonably-priced credit. There were several attempts to set up farming banks, including Crédit Foncier de France in 1861, but none was successful.

Birth of Crédit Agricole and creation of the local and regional banks 1894 - 1900

Jules Méline spearheaded the creation of the first Local Banks

Crédit Agricole can trace its history back to the end of the 19th Century, and specifically to the Act of 1884 establishing the freedom of professional association, which authorised, among other things, the creation of farm unions and the foundation of local mutual banks.^[Société de Crédit Agricole^[ was created on 23 February 1885 at Salins-les-Bains in the district of Poligny in the Jura region. It was the first of its kind in France.

Drawing on this experience and in an effort to promote lending to small family farms, the Act of 5 November 1894, which had the support of Minister for Agriculture Jules Méline, paved the way for the creation of Crédit Agricole’s Local Banks. The first Local Banks were set up by local elites, including agronomists, teachers and property owners, with farmers playing a minority role.

In the early years, business was made up exclusively of short-term loans provided as advances on harvests, enabling farmers to live more comfortably. Medium-term and long-term loans were added later, making it possible to buy equipment and livestock.

The 1894 Act did not confer any financial advantages, and the Local Banks soon faced financial problems, such as a lack of capital and insufficient collateral from small farmers. It was not until 1897 that the government addressed these problems by requiring the Banque de France to provide funding to Crédit Agricole through an endowment of 40 million gold francs and an annual fee of 2 million francs. A year later, the Act of 1898 resolved the collateral issues. Meanwhile, the Act of 31 March 1899 instituted a commission within the Ministry for Agriculture to distribute the government advances between the Regional Banks, which were also created at this time. These cooperative entities brought together the Local Banks in their catchment area and acted as their clearing organisations.

Building nationwide coverage 1900 - 1945 

More and more Local and Regional Banks were established from the turn of the century. By the eve of the First World War, every region had at least one. But the government continued to provide three-quarters of the funding, and short-term lending still accounted for the lion’s share of business despite the authorisation to issue long-term loans granted by the Acts of 29 December 1906 and 19 March 1910. With some regions becoming isolated owing to the War, the need for a central bank to regulate business became more apparent, especially as Crédit Agricole was asked to provide financing to rebuild farming operations damaged during the conflict.

In the 1920s, the bank continued to build its nationwide coverage and expand its business activities, notably by introducing loans to small-scale rural craftsmen in 1920, financing rural electrification and financing local authorities in rural areas from 1923.

The Act of 5 August 1920 gave greater independence to what was at that time a credit department reporting directly to the Ministry for Agriculture and established a public central clearing organisation for the Regional Banks. The Office National de Crédit Agricole was thus set up, with Louis Tardy^[4] as its Chief Executive Officer. In 1926, the institution was renamed Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole (CNCA), and Crédit Agricole’s institutional structure was complete. The 1920 Act also established the legal framework for Crédit Agricole’s operations in France.

Local and Regional Banks did not emerge from the 1930 crisis unscathed. The Caisse Nationale took on a greater role and aided the most heavily exposed banks. A joint deposit guarantee fund was set up in 1935. The following year, Crédit Agricole provided additional support by financing wheat stocks through discounting when the National Cereals Board (ONIC) was established. The payment mechanisms used helped to make cheques and bank accounts more popular in the countryside.^[4]

Between 1939 and 1945, the Vichy regime imposed stricter state supervision on Crédit Agricole. Major financial developments also took place at this time, including the creation of the five-year note.^[7]

Post-War period and creation of Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole 1945 - 1966

To finance the post-war reconstruction effort and encourage the mechanisation of farming, CNCA stepped up deposit-taking to supplement the funds provided by the government. The Regional Banks opened many offices, with the total increasing from 1,000 in 1947 to 2,259 by 1967.

Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole (FNCA) was created in 1948. It was tasked with representing the Crédit Agricole Regional Banks with respect to the public authorities and CNCA. It also played a role in training staff and gradually expanding Crédit Agricole’s expertise.

In 1959, Crédit Agricole was authorised by decree to finance property loans for primary residences in rural areas, irrespective of the status of the owner (even non-farmers).The distribution of long-term bonds created in 1950 enabled Crédit Agricole to be self-financing from 1963. Financial flows between the government and the organisation reversed, with Crédit Agricole now sending deposits to the Treasury.

Crédit Agricole continued to modernise, with an influx of new managerial talent both in the Regional Banks and at CNCA. In 1960, Paul Driant became the first Chairman of CNCA to come from a farming background. He remained in this position for 14 years.

Birth of a universal bank 1966 - 1988

In 1966, as part of efforts to boost savings and remove Crédit Agricole from its budget, the government gave CNCA financial autonomy.^[10] Savings inflows no longer passed through the Treasury, and CNCA was now responsible for balancing the surpluses and deficits of the Regional Banks. The 1971 "Rurality Act" extended Crédit Agricole’s potential financing sources to rural zones and to new types of customers, such as craftsmen and food producers. Lending to SMEs and mid-tier firms followed after.

The Banking Reform of 1966 allowed the organisation to offer households the same products as those provided by competitors, including passbook accounts and home savings plans.

The first subsidiaries were set up at the end of the 1960s to address the specific needs of CNCA: Union d’études et d’investissements (UI) was created in 1967 to make equity investments, followed by Segespar for asset management in 1968, and Unicrédit to grant loans to food producers in 1971.^[ Crédit Agricole began distributing home purchase savings products from 1967, government-regulated mortgages from 1972 and first-time-buyer loans in 1977.

In 1976, the Group adopted the slogan "le bon sens près de chez vous" ("common sense close to home").

Crédit Agricole opened its first foreign branch, in Chicago^] in 1979, signalling the start of its strategy of international expansion. In that year, The Banker magazine ranked Crédit Agricole among the world’s leading banks. Reflecting this progress, Crédit Agricole was made subject to France’s 1984 Banking Act; previously it had been subject only to the Rural Code. In addition, an interbank agreement was signed to make Crédit Agricole bank cards part of the carte bleue system used by other banks.

The group’s business diversification started in the 1980s. The Predica life insurance subsidiary was set up in 1986, while property & casualty unit Pacifica was created in 1990. The group expanded into bancassurance, offering the first retirement savings plans. At this time, many Local Bank directors were also directors of Groupama, an insurer from the farming sector. There was talk of a merger between the two, but this did not ultimately come to pass.

Institutional changes 1988 - 2001

On 18 January 1988, the CNCA Privatisation Act came into force. CNCA was transformed into a public limited company, with a 90% stake sold to the Regional Banks and 10% to staff. Crédit Agricole became fully independent of the government, putting an end to the latter’s practice of skimming off surplus funds. In 1990, Crédit Agricole lost the monopoly on granting low-interest loans to farmers and one year later, in 1991, the "normalisation" process was completed as it was allowed to begin financing large corporations.^[

International expansion continued with the acquisition of stakes in Banco Ambrosiano Veneto in Italy in 1989 and Banco Espirito Santo in Portugal in 1991.

Consolidation among the Regional Banks began officially in 1990, with the aim of reducing costs. The aim was to halve the number of Regional Banks, and that objective had been surpassed by the turn of the 21st Century. Meanwhile, 18 of the 94 Regional Banks were listed on the secondary market through issues of cooperative investment certificates, although most of the share capital of the Regional Banks remained in the hands of the 5.5 million client stakeholders.

In 1993, Lucien Douroux, who led the plan to privatise FNCA, became CNCA’s first Chief Executive Officer,^[15] having been appointed by Crédit Agricole from existing staff.

In 1996, the group bought Indosuez and then created Indocam, an asset management subsidiary (renamed Crédit Agricole Asset Management in 1999), and Crédit Agricole Indosuez for corporate and investment banking. In 1999, diversification continued as the Group took a stake in the newly privatised Crédit Lyonnais, and acquired leading consumer finance company Sofinco.

CNCA was listed on the stockmarket in 2001 under the name Crédit Agricole S.A. This gave the Regional Banks a listed vehicle through which to carry out major acquisitions.

Related raised........................