Groupe Banque Populaire

Type	Semi co-operative
Founded	1878
Headquarters	Paris, France
Key people	Philippe Dupont, CEO
Industry	Banking
Employees	34,500
Website	www.banquepopulaire.fr

Groupe Banque Populaire is a French Group of cooperative banks. It is controlled by 18 regional banks, the CASDEN Banque Populaire and the Crédit Coopératif.

In 2006, Groupe Banque Populaire has created a new company with another French cooperative banking group, Groupe Caisse d'Epargne in order to create Natixis. The new Investment Bank is the result of the spin-off of the two Investment Banks of the two groups : Banque Populaire's Natexis and Caisse d'Epargne's IXIS Corporate and Investment Bank. Natixis is equally controlled by the two groups.

As of December 2008, Banque Populaire had:

• 3,460,000 sociétaires (shareholders)
• 9,400,000 clients
• 3,391 branches in France
• a presence in 70 countries

[edit] Merger

In October 2008 the group announced plans, since approved by the French government, to merge with Groupe Caisse d'Epargne.^[1] The companies merged in 2009 to form the Group BPCE^[2] and retain their separate retail banking brands and branch networks. Banque Populaire chief executive officer Philippe Dupont has been nominated to head the enlarged company.^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} "French banks to merge in bid to weather storm". Agence France Presse (Google News). 8 October 2008. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jMkomSWmtSTqAg41NUs6ARodZSLg. Retrieved 2008-10-17. 
2. ^ Jolly, David. Parent of French Bank Agrees to Guarantee Troubled Assets. New York Times. 26 Aug. 2009.

[edit] External links

• Groupe Banque Populaire organization
• Banque Populaire website (in french)