2. Which French Bank?

1. 2.1. High Street Banks
2. 2.2. International Banking
3. 2.3. Internet Banks
4. 2.4. Which Bank?

2.1. High Street Banks

There are eight main banks in France, as follows:

• Crédit Agricole(CA)
• BNP Paribas
• Société Générale
• Caisse d‘Epargne (CE)
• Banque Populaire (BP)
• Credit Mutuel
• La Banque Postal
• LCL

Since 2003 LCL (formerly Crédit Lyonnais) has been owned by Crédit Agricole, although it continues to operate a separate branch network.

Likewise both Caisse d’Epargne and the Banque Populaire recently merged some of their activities to form a new bank which is called 'Natixis'. Their separate retail branch networks are being retained.

Credit Mutual has a national subsiduary bank called CIC (Crédit Industriel et Commercial), that operates a separate branch network.

International buyers may also be familiar with Crédit Foncier the specialist mortgage arm of Caisse d'Epargne. Crédit Foncier recently opened a branch office in London.

None of the banks has links with UK banks, although, Crédit Agricole has been interested in developing a retail branch network in the UK for a long time, with the Alliance and Leicester Building Society stated to be a clear target.

BNP Paribas are also owners of Abbey France, a former subsiduary of Abbey National, now subsumed under their mortgage subsiduary UCB .

It may surprise you to learn that the largest bank by number of customers and branch network is the French post office, who call their bank 'La Banque Postale'.

This is perhaps because, not only is its branch network larger than all the others put together, but it has generally offered the cheapest rates, and has exclusive rights (along with Caisse d’Epargne) to a popular and attractive savings scheme called Livret A. La Poste is also open on a Saturday morning, which is not generally the case with the other banks.

On the downside, La Poste is not entitled to offer unsecured loans, the amount you can withdraw without prior notice is generally lower than other banks, their international money transfer system lags behind other banks, and transfers within the EU are more expensive than other banks. The level of customer service within some of the older and busier post offices can also be poor.

In addition, the current monopoly of La Poste and Caisse d’Epargne to Livret A may well change in the future. The other retail banks have raised a legal challenge to this monopoly. The monopoly is also being contested by the EU Commission.

Crédit Agricole will be more widely known by most. It operates on a mutual basis with 41 regional banks in which CA is the major shareholder.

A map of the regional structure of Crédit Agricole is available by visiting the website of Credit Agricole .

Whilst these regional banks are ultimately part of the same group, the CA is not a national branch network in the same manner as the other banks.

Although, you will be able to use, withdraw and pay in at Crédit Agricole ATM machine and branches throughout the country at no extra charge, there are slight differences in charging policies between the regions.