The banking industry in France has, as of 11 October 2008, an average leverage ratio (assets/net worth) of 28 to 1, and its short-term liabilities are equal to 60% of the French GDP or 128% of its national debt. [1]
France operates a deposits guarantee fund, known as the Fonds de Garantie des Depôts.
During 2018 the banking sector of the French economy employed 362,800 people. [2]
The largest banks by total assets in Euros (as of Year end 2020) in France are the following:
1. BNP Paribas: $2,488.5 Bn
2. Crédit Agricole: $1,961.1 Bn
3. Société Générale: $1,462.0 Bn
4. BPCE: $863.3 Bn
5. Crédit Mutuel - CIC: $624.0 Bn
At about the time of the commencement of the year 1800, [3] [4] and of the first period of revolutionary change in banking within the continent of Europe, the high banking houses of France included the Hottinguer, Mallet (fr), Neuflize (fr), Rothschilds and Vernes (fr). [3] [4]
Monabanq (fr), opened during and is based in Hauts-de-France. [5] [6]
The Banque de l'Indochine, originally Banque de l'Indo-Chine, was a bank created in 1875 in Paris to finance French colonial development in Asia. As a bank of issue in Indochina until 1952, with many features of a central bank, it played a major role in the financial history of French Indochina, French India, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Djibouti, as well as French-backed ventures in China and Siam. After World War II, it lost its issuance privilege but reinvented itself as an investment bank in France, and developed new ventures in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
The Société générale de Belgique was an investment bank and, subsequently, an industrial and financial conglomerate in Belgium between 1822 and 2003. The banking element was split in 1935 and became Générale de Banque. At its height in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Société Générale exercised significant control over large portions of the national economy of Belgium and the Belgian colonial empire.
The Crédit Industriel et Commercial is a bank and financial services group in France, founded in 1859. It has been majority owned by Crédit Mutuel, one of the country's top five banking groups, since 1998, and fully owned since 2017.
Banque Cantonale de Genève (BCGE) is a limited company established under Swiss public law, resulting from the merger of the Caisse d'Épargne de la République et Canton de Genève and the Banque Hypothécaire du Canton de Genève. It is one of the 24 cantonal banks.
The Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, generally referred to from 1982 as Paribas, was a French investment bank based in Paris. In May 2000, it merged with the Banque Nationale de Paris to form BNP Paribas.
The Générale de Banque was a major Belgian bank, created in 1934 as a spin-off from the powerful financial conglomerate Société Générale de Belgique (SGB) in compliance with new Belgian legislation that mandated separation of commercial banking activities from investment holdings. It was initially named the Banque de la Société Générale de Belgique, then from 1965 to 1985 the Société Générale de Banque. Upon establishment, it was the dominant bank in Belgium, with one-third of total banking assets, not counting other SGB-linked banking entities such as the Banque d'Anvers and the Banque Italo-Belge.
Société Générale S.A., colloquially known in English speaking countries as SocGen, is a French-based multinational financial services company founded in 1864, registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby in La Défense.
Banque Palatine is a French bank founded in 1780 in Lyon, and is therefore one of the oldest French banks still being run. It is today a full branch subsidiary of the mutual group BPCE. Its core businesses are retail banking with small and medium-sized enterprises, private banking and asset management. Its headquarters is in Paris downtown, in the la Madeleine neighbourhood.
Groupe BPCE is a major French banking group formed by the 2009 merger of two major retail banking groups, Groupe Caisse d'Épargne and Groupe Banque Populaire. As of 2021, it was France's fourth largest bank, the seventh largest in Europe, and the nineteenth in the world by total assets. It has more than 8,200 branches nationwide under their respective brand names serving nearly 150 million customers. Its wholesale banking subsidiary Natixis, previously a separately listed company, was delisted and came under full ownership of Groupe BPCE in 2021.
The Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris (CNEP), from 1854 to 1889 Comptoir d'escompte de Paris (CEP), was a major French bank active from 1848 to 1966.
The Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie was a major French bank, active from 1932 to 1966 when it merged with Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris to form Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP). It was itself the successor of the Comptoir d'Escompte de Mulhouse, a bank founded in 1848 under the Second French Republic that had become German following the Franco-Prussian War, and its French subsidiary formed in 1913, the Banque Nationale de Crédit.
The Banque de l'Union Parisienne (BUP) was a French investment bank, created in 1904 and merged into Crédit du Nord in 1973.
The Banque de Bruxelles was a prominent bank in Brussels, established in 1871 and merged in 1975 with Banque Lambert to form Banque Bruxelles Lambert. It was Belgium's second-largest bank for most of its existence, behind the Société Générale de Belgique and, from 1934 onwards, its spun-off banking subsidiary.
ODDO BHF is an independent Franco-German financial services group. It was created from the alliance of a French family-owned business built up by five generations of stockbrokers and a German bank specialising in Mittelstand companies. ODDO BHF operates in three main businesses: private banking, asset management, and corporate and investment banking.
The Banque de Salonique was a regional bank headquartered in Thessaloniki and Istanbul. Created in 1886 under the initial leadership of the Salonica Jewish Allatini family with Austrian, Hungarian and French banking partners, it contributed to the development of the Eastern Mediterranean and Southern Balkans during the late Ottoman Empire. In the Interwar period its activity was mainly focused on Northern Greece, where it operated until the German occupation, and Turkey, where it kept operating until 2001, albeit under different names after 1969. Its preserved headquarters buildings are landmarks, respectively, of Valaoritou Street, a significant thoroughfare of downtown Thessaloniki, and of Bankalar Caddesi in the Karaköy neighborhood of Istanbul.
The Franco-Chinese Bank, in French Banque Franco-Chinoise (BFC), full name Banque Franco-Chinoise pour le Commerce et l’Industrie, was a French bank with operations in China and French Indochina, and later in the Indian Ocean and the French West Indies. In 1925 it succeeded the Société française de gérance de la Banque industrielle de Chine, an asset management company that had been formed in October 1922 following the closure of the Banque Industrielle de Chine.
The Compagnie Algérienne, from 1942 to 1948 Compagnie Algérienne de Crédit et de Banque, was a significant French bank with operations in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon as well as mainland France. It was formed in 1877 in a restructuring of its predecessor entity, the Société Générale Algérienne, itself founded in 1865-68. The Compagnie Algérienne eventually merged in 1960 with the Banque de l'Union Parisienne. Following a series of subsequent restructurings, its main successor entities as of 2022 are the Crédit du Nord in France, the Crédit populaire d'Algérie in Algeria, the Banque de Tunisie in Tunisia, Attijariwafa Bank in Morocco, and the Banque Libano-Française in Lebanon.
The Banque Française pour le Commerce et l'Industrie was a significant bank in France, formed in 1901 from two predecessor entities, the Banque Franco-Égyptienne and the Banque Française d'Afrique du Sud. It was purchased in 1922 by the Banque Nationale de Crédit, a predecessor entity of BNP Paribas.
The Banque Italo-Belge was a Belgian bank established in 1911 on the initiative of the Société Générale de Belgique (SGB) jointly with Credito Italiano and other partners. Despite its name, it operated mainly in South America. It was known as the Banque Brésilienne Italo-Belge before 1913, and Banque Européenne pour l'Amérique Latine (BEAL) after 1974. By the late 1930s, it was the fourth-largest Belgian bank by total assets behind the Banque de la Société Générale, Banque de Bruxelles, and Kredietbank.
The Crédit Foncier d'Algérie et de Tunisie was a French colonial bank. It was originally founded in 1880 as the Crédit Foncier et Agricole d'Algérie, an Algerian affiliate of Crédit Foncier de France, and took its name CFAT in 1909 following expansion to Tunisia. In 1963, following Algerian independence, it renamed itself as Société Centrale de Banque (SCDB). It was acquired by Société Générale in 1971 and eventually absorbed by it in 1997. Its former overseas operations have become part of Banque Nationale d'Algérie in Algeria, Amen Bank in Tunisia, Société Générale in Morocco, and Fransabank in Lebanon.