The Crédit national (; ) was a French government-sponsored bank, created in 1919 on the initiative of senior civil servant Charles Laurent. It eventually merged in 1996 with Banque Française du Commerce Extérieur (BFCE) to form Natexis, later absorbed into Groupe BPCE.
Overview
The Crédit National was established by special legislation of . Although it had private-sector ownership, it was a sui generis hybrid between public and private-sector banking templates, intended to facilitate the financing of France’s reconstruction following the devastation of World War I. It financed itself through bond issuance and lotteries, with a government guarantee that was itself backed in principle by the expectation of German war reparations.
By the mid-1990s, the Crédit National was still a listed company with mostly dispersed ownership, even though insurer AXA held a 9.5-percent stake following a recent transaction. In 1995, the Crédit National announced it would take over majority control of the previously government-owned BFCE, partly financing the transaction by selling a 20 percent stake in export credit insurer Coface to state-owned insurer AGF. Upon completion of the transaction in 1996, the merged entity, renamed Natexis, became France's fourth-largest commercial bank by total assets, just behind the so-called "three old ones" (Banque Nationale de Paris, Crédit Lyonnais and Société Générale; ) and ahead of Crédit Commercial de France.
Leadership
Presidents Charles Lawrence: 1919 Louis Martin: 1920 — 1936 : 1936 — 1949 Jacques Brunet: 1949 — 1960 John Saltes: 1960-1972 : 1973 — 1974 André de Lattre: 1974 — 1982 : 1982 — 1987 Paul Mentré: 1987 — 1990 Yves Lyon-Caen: 1990 — 1993 : 1993 — 1994 Emmanuel Rodocanachi: 1994 — 1998
Directors Marcel Frachon: 1919 — 1929 : 1929 — 1942
See also
Crédit Foncier de France Bank of France List of banks in France
Notes
Sources Robert beef, The National Credit , Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1923. The National Credit, medium credit institution and long term, 1951. National Credit 1919-1969 , Paris, Havas-Conseil 1969. Patrice Baubeau Arnaud Lavit d'Hautefort, Michel Lescure, The National Credit from 1919 to 1994. public history of a private company, Paris, JC Lattes, 1994. National Committee Corporate Credit. Jubilee 1945-1995 1995.
External links "National Credit, medium credit institution and long term" (1951) on persee.fr Le Crédit National - Archives pour une histoire de la production cinématographique française (1941-1966) (Cinémathèque française)