Étienne Pflimlin (born 16 October 1941) is a French high-ranking civil servant and banker. He served as the CEO of the

Crédit Mutuel Crédit Mutuel () is a French cooperative banking group, one of the country's top five banks with over 30 million customers. It traces its origins back to the German cooperative movement inspired by Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen in Alsace–Lorr ...

from 1987 to 2010.

Early life

Étienne Pflimlin was born on 16 October 1941 in

Thonon-les-Bains Thonon-les-Bains (; ), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is part of a ...

, Haute-Savoie, France. His father,

Pierre Pflimlin Pierre Eugène Jean Pflimlin (; 5 February 1907 – 27 June 2000) was a French Christian Democrat politician who served as the Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic for a few weeks in 1958, before being replaced by Charles de Gaulle during the ...

, was a politician. Pflimlin graduated from the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

and the

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

(ENA).

Career

Pflimlin started his career as a high-ranking civil servant. He worked for Prime Minister

Pierre Messmer Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer (; 20 March 191629 August 2007) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under ...

in 1973 and Culture Minister

Michel d'Ornano Michel d'Ornano (12 July 1924 – 8 March 1991) was a French politician. Early life Count d'Ornano was born in Paris on 12 July 1924. He was a son of Count Guillaume d'Ornano, a co-founder of Lancôme in 1935 (which was acquired by L'Oreal in ...

in 1977. He subsequently worked for the

Court of Audit A Court of Audit or Court of Accounts is a supreme audit institution, i.e. a government institution performing financial and/or legal audit (i.e. statutory audit or external audit) on the executive branch of power. See also *Most of those ...

. Pflimlin joined the

, a French

mutual bank A mutual bank is a cooperative financial institution owned by its depositors or customers. They include mutual organization, mutual savings banks and cooperative banking. Unlike traditional banks, which prioritize shareholder profits, mutual banks ...

, in 1984. He succeeded Théo Braun as its CEO in 1987, retiring in 2010. He argued that shareholders were a critical part of mutual banking, and that the industry would be over if shareholders stopped being engaged. He earned 630,141 Euros in 2010, 600,000 of which was his net salary. He was succeeded by Michel Lucas. Pflimlin was elected to the board of the

International Co-operative Alliance The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), established in 1895, is a non-governmental organization dedicated to uniting, representing, and supporting cooperatives around the world. It is the guardian of the internationally recognized definiti ...

in 1994. He has served on the board of directors of

FIMALAC FIMALAC (known as Financière Marc de Lacharrière) is a French holding company focusing on credit rating and risk management companies. It manages commercial real estate through North Colonnade Ltd, and private equity funds through its subsidiary ...

, a credit rating and risk assessment company, since 2006. Pflimlin first met Ladreit as a student at the ENA. Pflimlin became a Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 2012.

Personal life

Pflimlin is married to Sophie, an editor, and he has two children, Edouard and Thomas. He resides in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

with his family.

References

Living people 1941 births People from Thonon-les-Bains Businesspeople from Strasbourg École Polytechnique alumni Sciences Po alumni École nationale d'administration alumni French bankers French corporate directors Commanders of the Legion of Honour {{France-business-bio-stub