Over the 125 years of its existence, France’s Crédit Agricole has been inseparable from the country’s farming industry. It first provided 19th-century farmers with an alternative to ruinous usurers and later, through its network of regional banks, helped farms recover from the effects of the Second World War. However, the bank’s deep regional roots are more than a quirk of history. They are, in fact, a defining factor of the group’s corporate structure and funding strategy up to this day.
Crédit Agricole is one of Europe’s last remaining universal financial services providers. It has a 26% share of the French retail market in terms of number of accounts (31% of mortgages), runs an ambitious wholesale bank, is Europe’s biggest asset manager (through Amundi) and is the number one bancassurer in Europe.
