Banks in France

Banque de France Caisse des Depots BNP Paribas Societe Generale Credit Agricole Dexia
Banque de France Caisse des Depots BNP Paribas Societe Generale Credit Agricole Dexia

Banque de France – The central bank of France, created in January 1800 by Napoleon Bonaparte. At the time, both Sweden and England already had an issuing bank.

AXA Banque – A retail banking subsidiary of AXA Group.

Banque Federative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) – The Holding company of the CM11-CIC Group. BFCM carries the Group subsidiaries and coordinates their activities. The business of these subsidiaries covers the fields of finance, insurance, ATMs and means of payment, and IT.

Banque Populaire – A French group of cooperative banks comprising 13 Banque Populaire banks. In 2009, the Group merged with Groupe Caisse d'Epargne to form BPCE.

Banque Robeco was a private banking arm of Group Robeco. In 2010, it was acquired by Oddo et Cie.

Banque Transatlantique – One of the oldest private banks in France. It operates as a subsidiary of CIC group. The Bank offers private and corporate banking, assets and wealth management, and other services.

BNP Paribas – With approximately EUR 2.2 trillion in assets, it is one of the top 10 banks in the world. At May 10, 2018, BNP Paribas had a market capitalization of about EUR 78 billion.

BPCE – One of the largest banking groups in France. It was created from the merger of Banques Populaires and Caisses d’Epargne, two complementary cooperative banking networks.

BRED Banque Populaire – The largest commercial bank in the BPCE Group.

Caisse des Depots et Consignations – A French financial organization under the control of the Parliament.

Caisse d'Epargne – A cooperative banking network in France with more than 20 million customers. It operates as a subsidiary of BPCE Group.

Citibank Europe (French Branch)

Crédit Agricole Group – The largest retail bank in France and one of the largest banking groups in Europe in terms of total assets. It serves more than 50 million customers worldwide and has a presence in 52 countries.

Crédit Agricole CIB (formerly Calyon) – The corporate & investment banking division of Credit Agricole Group. For 2015, Crédit Agricole CIB reported revenue of EUR 4.1 billion.

Crédit Commercial de France (CCF) was a commercial bank in France. In 2000, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC and was renamed HSBC France in 2005.

Crédit Coopératif – A cooperative banking group set up in 1893 for the purpose of providing financing to social economy enterprises.

Credit Industriel et Commercial (CIC) – A financial services company founded in 1859. It serves nearly 4.8 million customers through a network over 2,000 branches in France and representative offices in 35 countries.

Crédit du Nord provides a wide range of financial services through 8 regional banks. The company operates as a subsidiary of Societe Generale Group.

Crédit Mutuel Group – A leading player in the banking sector in France with a market share of 17.3% of credits and 15% of deposits. The Group serves over 30 million customers.

Dexia Credit Local SA – The Dexia Group’s main operational entity and issuer.

Groupama – An international insurance group based in Paris, France. With over 33,000 employees, it serves over 13 million customers. Groupama is number one mutual insurance company in France.

HSBC France – A subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc. It provides a full range of banking and financial services including retail, corporate, investment and private banking. As of June 2016, the company had EUR 196.2 billion in total assets.

La Banque Postale – A postal French bank established on 1 January, 2006. It operates as a subsidiary of La Poste. As of June 2017, La Banque Postale had total assets of EUR 233 billion.

LCL S.A. (Le Crédit Lyonnais) – A French retail bank with a strong presence in urban areas. It operates as a subsidiary of Credit Agricole.

Natixis – A corporate, investment and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE. As of June 2016, it had approximately EUR 790 billion in assets under management. The company's market capitalization is EUR 21 billion (December 5, 2017).

Oddo & Cie – A French investment bank with total assets under management of over EUR 100 billion. Since 2015, Oddo Group has become a French-German company following the acquisitions of Seydler, Meriten and BHF bank.

Societe Generale – One of the largest financial services groups in the eurozone. The Group employs approximately 146,000 people and has about 2,200 branches in France and over 5,300 locations worldwide.

Sofinco – A specialist in consumer lending. It is a brand of Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Group.

Top Banks in France

 Total assets (EUR billion)

Rank Bank 12/2017 12/2016 12/2015 12/2014 12/2013 12/2012 12/2011 12/2010 12/2009 12/2008
1 BNP Paribas 1,960.25 2,076.96 1,994.19 2,077.76 1,800.14 1,907.20 1,965.28 1,998.16 2,057.70 2,075.55
2 Credit Agricole Group 1,763.20 1,722.85 1,698.90 1,762.76 1,706.33 1,783.22 1,879.54 1,730.85 1,693.76 1,783.97
3 Societe Generale 1,275.13 1,382.24 1,334.39 1,308.17 1,235.26 1,250.89 1,181.37 1,132.07 1,023.70 1,130.00
4 Groupe BPCE 1,259.85 1,235.24 1,166.54 1,223.30 1,123.52 1,147.52 1,138.40 1,048.44 1,028.80 1,143.68
5 Credit Mutuel Group n/a 793.522 739.809 706.720 657.810 645.216 605.220 591.309 579.038 -
6 La Banque Postale 231.477 229.577 218.708 212.834 201.377 195.787 185.712 173.016 171.251 111.945
7 HSBC France 167.544 169.423 168.458 201.018 208.893 225.208 221.39 210.836 213.444 266.025

* Crédit Agricole Group includes Crédit Agricole S.A., Regional Banks and Local Banks.