In the second half of the 19th century, French farmers struggled to obtain long-term, flexible, reasonably-priced credit. There were several attempts to set up farming banks, including Crédit Foncier de France in 1861, but none were successful.
Birth of Crédit Agricole and creation of the local and regional banks 1894–1900
Crédit Agricole can trace its history back to the end of the 19th century, specifically to the Act of 1884 establishing the freedom of professional association, which authorised, among other things, the creation of syndicat agricoles (farm unions) and the foundation of local mutual banks.[11] Société de Crédit Agricole[12] was created on 23 February 1885 at Salins-les-Bains in the district of Poligny in the Jura region.[11] It was the first of its kind in France.
Drawing on this experience to promote lending to small family farms, the Act of 5 November 1894, which had the support of the Minister for Agriculture Jules Méline, paved the way for the creation of Crédit Agricole's local banks.[13] The first local banks were set up by local elites, including agronomists, teachers, and property owners, with farmers playing a minority role.
In the early years, business consisted exclusively of short-term loans provided as advances on harvests, enabling farmers to live more comfortably. Medium-term and long-term loans were added later, making it possible to buy equipment and livestock.
The 1894 Act did not confer any financial advantages, and the local banks soon faced financial problems, such as a lack of capital and insufficient collateral from small farmers. It was not until 1897 that the government addressed these problems by requiring the Banque de France to fund Crédit Agricole through an endowment of 40 million gold francs and an annual fee of 2 million francs. A year later, the Act of 1898 resolved the collateral issues.[14] Meanwhile, the Act of 31 March 1899 instituted a commission within the Ministry for Agriculture to distribute the government advances between the regional banks, which were also created at this time. These cooperative entities brought together the local banks in their catchment area and acted as their clearing organisations.
Building nationwide coverage 1900–1945
More and more local and regional banks were established from the turn of the century. Every region had at least one by the eve of the First World War. However, the government continued to provide three-quarters of the funding, and short-term lending still accounted for the lion's share of business despite the authorisation to issue long-term loans granted by the Acts of 29 December 1906 and 19 March 1910. With some regions becoming isolated owing to the War, the need for a central bank to regulate business became more apparent, especially as Crédit Agricole was asked to provide financing to rebuild farming operations damaged during the conflict.
New legislation of 5 August 1920 established a public central clearing organisation for the regional banks: the Office National de Crédit Agricole (ONCA), with Louis Tardy[11] as its chief executive officer, merging two services that were previously embedded in the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1926, the institution was renamed Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole (CNCA).[1]
In the 1920s, the bank continued to build its nationwide coverage and expand its business activities, notably by introducing loans to small-scale rural craftsmen in 1920, financing rural electrification, and financing local authorities in rural areas from 1923.[11]
Post-War period and creation of Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole 1945–1966
To finance the post-war reconstruction and encourage the mechanisation of farming, CNCA stepped up deposit-taking to supplement the funds provided by the government. The regional banks opened many offices, with the total increasing from 1,000 in 1947 to 2,259 by 1967.[11]
In 1959, Crédit Agricole was authorised by decree to finance property loans for primary residences in rural areas, irrespective of the status of the owner (even non-farmers).[12]
Crédit Agricole continued to modernise, with an influx of new managerial talent both in the regional banks and at CNCA. In 1960, Paul Driant became the first Chairman of CNCA to come from a farming background. He remained in this position for 14 years.[16]
Birth of a universal bank 1966–1988
In 1966, as part of efforts to boost savings and remove Crédit Agricole from its budget, the government gave CNCA financial autonomy.[17] Savings inflows no longer passed through the Treasury, and CNCA was now responsible for balancing the surpluses and deficits of the regional banks. The 1971 "Rurality Act" extended Crédit Agricole's potential financing sources to rural zones and to new types of customers, such as craftsmen and food producers. Lending to SMEs and mid-tier firms followed after.
The Banking Reform of 1966 allowed the organisation to offer households the same products as those provided by competitors, including passbook accounts and home savings plans.[18]
The first subsidiaries were set up at the end of the 1960s to address the specific needs of CNCA: Union d'études et d'investissements (UI) was created in 1967 to make equity investments, followed by Segespar for asset management in 1968, and Unicrédit to grant loans to food producers in 1971.[19] Crédit Agricole began distributing home purchase savings products from 1967, government-regulated mortgages from 1972 and first-time-buyer loans in 1977.
In 1976, the group adopted the slogan "le bon sens près de chez vous" ("common sense close to home").[11]
Institutional changes 1988–2001
On 18 January 1988, the CNCA Mutualisation Act came into force.[22] CNCA was reincorporated into a public limited company, with a 90% stake sold to the regional banks and 10% to staff. Crédit Agricole became fully independent of the government, putting an end to the latter's practice of skimming off surplus funds. In 1990, Crédit Agricole lost the monopoly on granting low-interest loans to farmers and one year later, in 1991, the "normalisation" process was completed as it was allowed to begin financing large corporations.[23]
International expansion continued with the acquisition of stakes in Banco Ambrosiano Veneto in Italy in 1989 and Banco Espírito Santo in Portugal in 1991.
Consolidation among the regional banks began officially in 1990, with the aim of reducing costs. The aim was to halve the number of regional banks, and that objective had been surpassed by the turn of the 21st century.
In 1993, Lucien Douroux, who led the plan to mutualise FNCA, became CNCA's first chief executive officer,[24]
