Crédit Agricole SA is making a wealth of historical documentation available to academic researchers. Its historical archives come from all of the entities that now make up the Group: Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole, Banque de l’Indochine, Banque de Suez et de l’Union des mines, Crédit Lyonnais, and more.
Crédit Agricole SA’s Historical Archives are open by appointment only, at 72-74 rue Gabriel Péri in Montrouge (Metro line 4, Mairie de Montrouge station).
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In 2012, on the first anniversary of the “Common sense has a future” slogan, Crédit Agricole’s Client Relations and Sponsorship department teamed up with Culture Pub and the Group’s Historical Archives to take a look back at 50 years of advertising campaigns. The film they produced shows not only how the Group’s communication has evolved over time, but also how French society has changed, how the country has urbanised, and how banks have become a part of households’ daily life.
In 2013, Crédit Agricole CIB introduced sector policies to go further in recognising the social and environmental impacts of its activities. These are applied Group-wide. These policies demonstrate the commitment of the business to incorporate civic issues such as human rights, global warming and biodiversity. Sector policies set the conditions for investment and define the criteria for analysis and screening in all transactions involving the following sectors:
The Act of 1894 gave the local banks no financial advantages, and they quickly ran short on capital. In 1897, the State required the Banque de France to supply funds to Crédit Agricole in the form of a FRF40 million injection and an annual payment of FRF2 million. To distribute these advances, the Act of 31 March 1899 set up an Agriculture Ministry committee and instituted Crédit Agricole’s Regional Banks. These banks formed the second level in Crédit Agricole’s institutional pyramid.
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The 1899 Act concerning Crédit Agricole’s Regional Banks. | ezembed
Minutes of the 1904 general meeting founding the Dordogne Crédit Agricole Regional Bank. |
Through determined effort, Local and Regional Banks became more numerous. By the time of the First World War, each French département had at least one Regional Bank. However, despite being authorised to grant long-term loans, these banks mostly lent short-term. In addition, despite rising savings inflows, the government continued to provide three-quarters of source funds.
The First World War changed the way the institution operated and highlighted the need for a central bank to regulate the smaller banks. Crédit Agricole was called upon to finance the development of land left fallow during the war, and then to restore farms located in near the front lines.
ezembed | Women took over the farm work for the men who left to fight. The war effort significantly disrupted Crédit Agricole’s organisation. However, several laws passed in 1917 and 1918 allowed it to finance the renewed cultivation of land left fallow during the war. In addition, disabled veterans and civilians were granted low-interest loans to buy, restore or rebuild small farms. |
ezembed | A brochure entitled “Les Mutilés aux champs”, or The Wounded in the Fields, published in 1918 by the Farm Labour Department of the Agriculture Ministry. It showcases farm equipment adapted to the disabled veterans of the Great War and financing options from Crédit Agricole. |
