The complex banking system in France consists of more than 400 French banks and is comprised of four main sections: the Bank of France, Deposit banks, Investment banks, and banks that provide medium- and long-term loans.
The largest French banks in France, or to describe them better – Banking Groups – which are also among the top 10 largest financial groups in the world are:
- BNP Paribas (which has over 1,819 billion euros in assets)
- Crédit Agricole Group (which has over 1,687 billion euros in assets)
- Societe Generale Group (which has over 1,214 billion euros in assets)
- Groupe BPCE (which has over 1,123 billion euros in assets)
- Groupe Crédit Mutuel-CIC – (which has over 645 billion euros in assets)
Aside from these large banking groups, there are several other French Banks or international banks that have a strong presence in France.
Here’s our complete list of the most important French Banks in France:
Crédit Mutuel
Credit Mutuel is among the oldest French Banks, and was established way back in 1882. It is currently headquartered in Strasbourg, Alsace, and provides a wide range of services, including Consumer Banking, Corporate banking, Private banking and insurance services to customers in France and abroad.
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Societe Generale
Societe Generale is also among the most famous and oldest French banks in France. Together with Crédit Lyonnais (LCL) and BNP Paribas, it is one of the three pillars of the French banking sector.
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Credit Agricole
Credit Agricole is also known as the “Green” Bank for its original operations in the agricultural sector. This Bank is a French network of cooperative banks composed of 39 regional units. The list of bank subsidiaries include among others LCL Le Crédit Lyonnais, Crédit agricole CIB, Cariparma, Amundi and BforBank.
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Crédit du Nord
This bank belongs to the Crédit du Nord financial group, which is comprised of seven financial institutions: Bank Courtois, Kolb bank, Laydernier bank, Nuger bank, Rhône-Alpes bank, Tarneaud bank and Gilbert Dupont company.
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Caisse d’Epargne
This old prestige bank was founded back in 1818, in Paris. It is a part of the Caisse d’Epargne financial group, which until 2009 consisted of only 17 branches in France. In July 2009, the bank merged with Banques Populaires and as a result, the new banking conglomerate, called Groupe BPCE, became the second largest banking group in France.
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Credit Lyonnais (LCL) Bank
Credit Lyonnais (LCL) was founded back in 1863, and by 1900 it was the largest bank in the world. By the time the 1990’s, Credit Lyonnais grew smaller and was ”only” the largest state-owned bank in France.
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BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas Group was founded in 2000 by the merger of BNP and Paribas. The company inherits traditions of the two largest banks – BNP, the first French bank, whose origins date back to 1848, and the investment bank Paribas, founded in 1872. Today, the banking group operates in three strategic main areas: Retail Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate and Investment Banking.
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HSBC France
HSBC France was founded as a result of merger of the Crédit Commercial de France, the Union Bank in Paris, the Hervet Bank in Paris, the Banque de Picardie and Bank Baecque. Today, its head office is located in Paris on the Champs Elysees avenue in an old hotel building.
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Natixis Bank
Natixis is an international bank, it has 22 000 experts present in 68 countries, developing activities in three main geographical areas: Americas, Asia-Oceania and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa).
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Crédit Cooperatif
Credit Cooperatif is primarily known for his role of micro credits in France. According to the annual Microfinance Observatory Report for the 2010 published by the Bank of France, 19% of personal micro credits in France in 2010 were provided by the Credit Cooperatif.
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CIC Bank
CIC Banque is a bank in France, offering mainly savings accounts, mortgages, and loans to its customers. The bank aslo also owns stakes in specialised entities involved in private banking, asset management, leasing, securities brokerage, and property/casualty insurance.
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Banque Transatlantique
The Banque Transatlantique has developed recognized expertise in the fields of the private banking, asset management, administration of employee share ownership scheme and the management of expatriates. Present in London since 1986, Banque Transatlantique continues to grow and multiply its operations at the international markets with subsidiaries, branches and representative offices: Singapore in 2001, Luxembourg in 2002, Brussels in 2005, New York , Montreal and Hong Kong in 2011, Geneva in 2012.
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BRED Bank
BRED is a cooperative inter-regional bank oriented to private customers, professionals, and small businesses. As for 2012, it served one million individuals, 62,000 professionals, 26,000 associations and 6,900 corporate and institutional customers.
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Dexia Credit Local
Dexia Credit Local de France is a part of the Dexia Group, which was Franco-Belgian financial institution active in public finance, providing retail and commercial banking services to individuals and SMEs, asset management, and insurance.
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La Banque Postale
Dexia Credit Local de France is a part of the Dexia Group, which was Franco-Belgian financial institution active in public finance, providing retail and commercial banking services to individuals and SMEs, asset management, and insurance.
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AXA Banque
AXA Banque operates in France as an arm of the AXA – multinational, investment banking firm headquartered in Paris. The group is active on Investment banking, Investment management, Life and health insurance markets.
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Banque Populaire
Banque Populaire is a group of cooperative French banks in France, which along with other financial group – Groupe Caisse d’Epargne, forming form the Group BPCE – one of the largest financial groups in the country.
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Banque Palatine
Being one of the oldest banks in France as well, Banque Palatine was founded in 1780 and its original name was Banque Sanpaolo. It was founded originally in Lyon, France and is still one of the oldest banks still being run.
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