Groupe Caisse d'épargne was a French
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...
banking group, with around, 4700
branches
A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...
in the country. Its origins go back to the founding in 1818 of the , France's first
savings bank
A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings deposits and paying interest on those deposits.
They originated in Europe during the 18th century with the aim of providing access to savings products to ...
. The group was active in
retail
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and th ...
and
private bank
Private banks are banks owned by either the individual or a general partner(s) with limited partner(s). Private banks are not incorporated. In any such case, creditors can look to both the "entirety of the bank's assets" as well as the entiret ...
ing, as well as holding a significant stake in the
publicly traded
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( l ...
investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
Natixis
Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank created in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of '' Natexis Banques Populaires'' ( Banque Populaire group) and ''IXIS'' (Groupe Caisse d'Eparg ...
. In 2009, it merged with
Groupe Banque Populaire
Groupe Banque Populaire ("People's Bank") was a French group of cooperative banks. The central entity was controlled by 15 independent regional banks and also operated under the CASDEN and the Crédit Coopératif subsidiaries.
In 2006, Groupe Ba ...
to form
Groupe BPCE
Groupe BPCE (for Banque Populaire Caisse d'Epargne) is a major French banking group formed by the 2009 merger of two major retail banking groups, Groupe Caisse d'Épargne and Groupe Banque Populaire. As of 2021, it was France's fourth largest ...
.
History

The first French savings bank (french: Caisse d'Épargne) was created in Paris in 1818 by a group of financiers, social reformers and philanthropists that included
Benjamin Delessert
Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert (14 February 1773 – 1 March 1847) was a French banker and naturalist. He was an honorary member of the Académie des Sciences and many species were named from his natural history collections.
Biography
He was bo ...
,
Jean-Conrad Hottinguer,
Joseph Marie de Gérando
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
,
Jacques Laffitte
Jacques Laffitte (24 October 1767 – 26 May 1844) was a leading French banker, governor of the Bank of France (1814–1820) and liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies during the Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon Restoration and July Mon ...
, the
Duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,
James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild (born Jakob Mayer Rothschild; 15 May 1792 – 15 November 1868) was a German-French banker and the founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family.
Early life
James de Rothschild was born ...
, and
Vital Roux.
The Caisses d'Épargne were not banks, since they were not allowed to lend. The deposits they collected were invested in government bonds, from 1895 via centralized management by the
Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations
The Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC; ) is a French public sector financial institution created in 1816, and part of the government institutions under the control of the Parliament. Often described as the "investment arm" of the French ...
, a financial arm of the French state.
From 1882 they competed with the
Caisse Nationale d'Épargne, a state-owned entity that managed retail savings collected through the French network of post offices. By contrast with the Caisse Nationale, the local Caisses d'Épargne (also known in that context as ) were private-sector entities.
In October 2008 Groupe Caisse d'épargne announced plans to
merge
Merge, merging, or merger may refer to:
Concepts
* Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road
* Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program
* Merger (politics), the com ...
with fellow mutual
Groupe Banque Populaire
Groupe Banque Populaire ("People's Bank") was a French group of cooperative banks. The central entity was controlled by 15 independent regional banks and also operated under the CASDEN and the Crédit Coopératif subsidiaries.
In 2006, Groupe Ba ...
, in response to recent consolidation in the banking industry.
Press agency AFP linked the announcement directly to the ongoing
financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of ...
.
The companies intend however to retain their separate retail banking brands and
branch
A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' twig'' usually ...
networks. If the merger is completed, the enlarged company,
would hold €480 billion in
deposits and have over six million customers.
Groupe Caisse d'épargne merged with the BFBP (Banque fédérale des banques populaires) in July 2009, and became
BPCE
Groupe BPCE (for Banque Populaire Caisse d'Epargne) is a major French banking group formed by the 2009 merger of two major retail banking groups, Groupe Caisse d'Épargne and Groupe Banque Populaire. As of 2021, it was France's fourth largest ...
, France's second-largest bank.
Operations
The group's most notable brand is the ''Caisse d'épargne'' network of
mutual savings bank
A mutual savings bank is a financial institution chartered by a central or regional government, without capital stock, owned by its members who subscribe to a common fund. From this fund, claims, loans, etc., are paid. Profits after deductions ...
s. Along with
La Banque Postale and
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–Lorraine ...
, the bank shared the rights to offer the popular
Livret A
The Livret A is a financial product offered by French banks. Established in 1818 by King Louis XVIII to pay back the debts incurred during the Napoleonic Wars, part of the funds are now transferred to and re-invested by the Caisse des dépôts e ...
savings account
A savings account is a bank account at a retail bank. Common features include a limited number of withdrawals, a lack of cheque and linked debit card facilities, limited transfer options and the inability to be overdrawn. Traditionally, tran ...
s, backed by the
French government
The Government of France (French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, wh ...
until January 1, 2009.
In addition, the group is also the owner of the mortgage bank
Crédit Foncier, the corporate and
private bank
Private banks are banks owned by either the individual or a general partner(s) with limited partner(s). Private banks are not incorporated. In any such case, creditors can look to both the "entirety of the bank's assets" as well as the entiret ...
Banque Palatine and
Financière Océor, a commercial, private asset management and specialist finance bank serving France's
overseas departments
The overseas departments and regions of France (french: départements et régions d'outre-mer, ; ''DROM'') are departments of France that are outside metropolitan France, the European part of France. They have exactly the same status as mainlan ...
.
In 2006 Groupe Caisse d'épargne merged its
investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
IXIS Corporate and Investment Bank with
Groupe Banque Populaire
Groupe Banque Populaire ("People's Bank") was a French group of cooperative banks. The central entity was controlled by 15 independent regional banks and also operated under the CASDEN and the Crédit Coopératif subsidiaries.
In 2006, Groupe Ba ...
's
Natexis
Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank created in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of '' Natexis Banques Populaires'' (Banque Populaire group) and ''IXIS'' (Groupe Caisse d'Epargn ...
, creating
Natixis
Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank created in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of '' Natexis Banques Populaires'' ( Banque Populaire group) and ''IXIS'' (Groupe Caisse d'Eparg ...
, a publicly traded investment bank in which Caisse d'épargne and Groupe Banque Populaire currently hold an equal stake of 35.25%.
Groupe Caisse d'épargne has also since merged its private wealth management bank
La Compagnie 1818 into the Natixis group.
The group is listed in the 2007
ICA Global 300 list of mutuals and co-operatives, ranked 11th by 2005 turnover, making it the 2nd largest
co-operative banking group in the world, after
Crédit Agricole
Crédit Agricole Group (), sometimes called La banque verte ( en, The green bank) due to its historical ties to farming, is a French international banking group and the world's largest cooperative financial institution. It is France's second lar ...
.
It was the fourth French bank and the twenty-fifth bank in the world by total assets in 2008.
The company suffered a €751 million
derivatives
The derivative of a function is the rate of change of the function's output relative to its input value.
Derivative may also refer to:
In mathematics and economics
*Brzozowski derivative in the theory of formal languages
*Formal derivative, an ...
trading loss in October 2008, which it blamed partly on the high market
volatility at the time.
The group of employees responsible for making the unauthorised trades was dismissed.
Sponsorship
The group was the title sponsor of a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...
professional cycling team from 2006 to 2010, after which
Movistar
Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, Mobile telephony, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar+) in ...
took over sponsorship.
Gallery
File:Caisse d'épargne Amiens.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
File:Caisse d'épargne de Bordeaux ext.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...
File:Caisse d'Épargne de Chambéry (2018).JPG, Caisse d'épargne, Chambéry
Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb ...
File:Hôtel Caisse Épargne - Dijon (FR21) - 2022-04-16 - 1.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earl ...
File:Agence Caisse Épargne Fontainebleau 2.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...
File:Marseille - Caisse d'Epargne (16451564162).jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...
File:Bâtiment Caisse Épargne Moulins Allier 4.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Moulins
File:PA45000017 Hôtel de la caisse d'épargne (3).jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...]
File:Hôtel de la Caisse d'épargne de Reims.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Reims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded ...
File:Saint-Flour - Hôtel de Ville - Caisse d'Epargne - place d'Armes 17 bis (1-2016) P1040715cr.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Saint-Flour
File:Agence Caisse Épargne Sens 2.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Sens
Sens () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris.
Sens is a sub-prefecture and the second city of the department, the sixth in the region. It is crossed by the Yonne and t ...
File:9 Place Saint-Thomas Strasbourg 20200124 002.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Strasbourg
File:Vesoul bâtiment de la Caisse d'Epargne.jpg, Caisse d'épargne, Vesoul
Vesoul () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté located in eastern France.
It is the most populated municipality of the department with inhabitants in 2014. The same year, the Communauté d'aggl ...
References
External links
Groupe Caisse d'épargne official siteNatixis official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caisse d'Epargne
Caisse d'Épargne
Caisse, a French word, may refer to:
* Caisse Desjardins, an association of credit unions in Quebec
* Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, a road-bicycle racing team
*Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a public pension fund in Quebec
* Caisse n ...
Banks established in 1818
1818 establishments in France
BPCE