Integrated Report 2020-2021

Editorial

Editorial

The crisis demonstrated the utility and strength of our model

The health crisis that we experienced in 2020 put the relevance of our model to the test. Our Raison d’Être – “Working every day in the interest of our customers and society” – has never been so relevant. Our commitment was rewarded by our customers: we are in the Top 25 French brands that managed to prove their usefulness during the lockdowns, all sectors combined.

Dominique Lefebvre

Chairman of the Board of Directors

The unfailing commitment of our employees and elected representatives is particularly what has enabled us to be there for our customers. »

Was your model called into question by the global health crisis, which disrupted our convictions?

Dominique Lefebvre:2020 was a real-life stress test of the quality of our governance, our model and our values. At Crédit Agricole, we focused on what we believe is vital: being useful to our customers and society. We succeeded in accomplishing this each day, by ensuring essential services for citizens, providing support to corporates, small businesses and farmers to weather this crisis, mobilising our actions to implement the massive support measures taken by the government. Our model, based on a customer-centric universal banking relationship, therefore demonstrated its resilience and usefulness for all stakeholders in all our regions.

Philippe Brassac:Let us not forget, at the origin this was not an economic crisis but a health crisis. Virtually all sectors authorised to resume their activity are functioning normally. Most of those affected by the restrictions will restart as soon as these are lifted and we will be there to support them. Therefore, not only have our model and Raison d’Être not been called into question, they are in fact reinforced by the health crisis.

Our support was translated into concrete terms as early as 25 March 2020 through the deployment of the State-guaranteed loans in France (PGE), enabling us to grant €31 billion in guaranteed loans to a full range of actors in the economy; 552,0000 moratoriums on the medium to long-term loans of our corporate, small business, agricultural and individual customers; a extra-contractual support outside the policy contracts totalling €239 million for our customers insured against operating losses, even when the risk of operating caused by a pandemic was not covered in the policies. This support also took the form of €70 million in donations through solidarity funds; via the removal of fees on payment terminals and the deployment of Click & Collect and other digital solutions for our customers who are shop-owners.

Philippe Brassac

Chief Executive Officer

Crédit Agricole Group is solid and resilient. 

Do you think that Crédit Agricole will be able to come out unscathed from this period of upheavals? Many think that a wave of company bankruptcies will impact the banks. What is your opinion on this?

Philippe Brassac:Crédit Agricole Group is solid and resilient. Our position in terms of solvency and liquidity at the start of the Covid-19 crisis was much more favourable than in the previous crises of 2008 and 2011, and we even succeeded in strengthening it over 2020. Crédit Agricole is the leading retail bank in the European Union in terms of number of customers, and No. 1 in the EU in terms of its level of Tier 1 capital.

By mobilizing our teams alongside the government, we have contributed to mitigating the risk, providing businesses with the liquidity they will need to advance unharmed into the post-crisis phase, thereby avoiding bankruptcies of companies that until then had been sound. To date, this solution has paid off. And when the health crisis is over, the government will decide at what pace and under what terms it will be able to end its exceptional support schemes. The recovery will then depend more on us, as consumers, entrepreneurs and investors.

Dominique Lefebvre: Our fundamentals are strong. Our universal model, based on revenue synergies between the Group’s business lines, offers us huge potential to grow organically and strong recurring revenues. With our specialised business lines, we formed 24 strategic partnerships, enabling us to reach over 800 million customers in addition to our 52 million customers. Thanks to our decentralised model, the Chief Executive Officers of each of our business lines take the most relevant decisions for their activity while keeping with the guidelines defined in the Group Project. But the unfailing commitment of our employees and elected representatives is particularly what enabled us to be there for our customers during the crisis, and therefore in the recovery phases as well. Accordingly, I have no fears as to the ability of Crédit Agricole to get through this period, and in particular to mobilise its forces over time in favour of its clients and society.