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Crédit Agricole Group is a unified and decentralized banking group, leader in Europe. With over 5.8 million cooperative shareholders, 2 570 Local Banks form the bedrock of the Group and hold nearly all the share capital of 39 Regional Banks, which are fully fledged banks governed by the cooperative law. The Regional Banks hold a majority stake in Crédit Agricole S.A, a joint-stock and a listed company, through a holding company: SAS Rue La Boétie. Crédit Agricole S.A. is the apex entity of Crédit Agricole Group, the holding company of the major banking, financial and insurance subsidiaries of the Group and its instrument of international development.

Present across the entire spectrum of finance activities, Crédit Agricole is a first-class player in retail banking in Europe. Its ambition: to create a world-class European leader in banking and insurance, in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Global Compact.

Crédit Agricole has always been the preeminent financial partner to France's farming community and, over the years, it has broadened its client base to include households, the self-employed, companies and local governments. In addition to basic banking services, Crédit Agricole offers its customers a wide range of financial services and insurance products designed by its specialized subsidiaries. Its products range covers all financial consumer products, from life insurance and property and casualty and death and disability insurance, through savings account to the whole range of loans.

Crédit Agricole Group is n°1 in France with 28% of the household market and n°1 in Europe in terms of retail banking revenues. Crédit Agricole is also a European leader in consumer finance, a worldwide top-15 asset manager and top-20 insurer. It ranks among the top 10 in Europe in corporate and investment banking.

A strengthened international presence

Crédit Agricole is a leading retail banking group in Europe, with 44 million private customers and three domestic markets: France, Italy and Greece. The Group is present in 23 countries, through its network of 11,000 retail branches, mainly in Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as in the Mediterranean Basin.

In corporate and investment banking, the Crédit Agricole Group has a strong presence through its network in 58 countries.

It has expanded rapidly in the asset management, insurance and private banking markets, in France, Europe and across the world.

To achieve its strategic objective to build up its European dimension, it has acquired or taken equity interests in network banks that are well established on their home market and has developed partnerships and cooperation with other major groups.

Recent history

To achieve its ambition to become a leading banking group, operating on a French, European and global scale, Crédit Agricole decided to seek a stock exchange listing for the Group's central body - "Crédit Agricole S.A." - and its subsidiaries.

To enable its main shareholders to participate in the profits from the Group's domestic activity, Crédit Agricole S.A. took a 25% interest in the regional Banks. The initial public offering took place in December 2001 and was highly successful.

A year, later Crédit Agricole launched an offer on Crédit  Lyonnais, a bank in which it already had a 10% stake as the member of the partners banks gathered after the privatization of Crédit  Lyonnais. The offer closed and was greatly successful with more than 98% of control. One of the main advantages of the deal is that the Group now encompasses the whole of France, covering both rural and urban areas.

In 2006 and 2007, Crédit Agricole took a new step in the building of its European presence in retail banking by the acquisitions of Emporiki Bank in Greece and Cariparma, FriulAdria and 202 Banca Intesa branches in Italy.

Key Figures
 

Contact

Crédit Agricole S.A.
91-93, Boulevard Pasteur
75710 Paris Cedex 15
France

Tel. +33.1.43.23.52.02
www.credit-agricole.com