Best bank: Crédit Agricole
French banks have not had the net interest margin bonanza that higher interest rates have offered many southern European banks recently. In fact, some French banks saw profit decreases in their domestic retail divisions last year, while areas like markets and vehicle leasing have been less of a support to group profit compared to the immediate post-pandemic period.
AfE 2024
This environment has underlined the advantages of a diversified model, especially in French retail banking, where fee-earning business are as valuable as ever. Firms with bigger insurance and asset management divisions are generally doing well, especially when this is combined with strategic consistency – and, of course, an eye on costs.
Crédit Agricole ticks all of these boxes. Net income at the mutual group’s listed entity, Crédit Agricole SA, rose by 19.6% to €6.3