French lender BPCE to expand in Asia and Africa

France’s BPCE, created by the merger of
Banques Populaires and Caisse d’Espargne in 2009, is to expand in
Africa and East Asia through organic and inorganic growth.

The bank is shifting its retail banking
business focus on emerging markets as higher capital and liquidity
reserves required under Basel III are straining its domestic retail
banking operations.

The chief executive, Francois Perol said that
the banking sectors in Western and Central Africa and East Asia
provided more business potential with faster and stronger
growth.

The bank has 8,200 branches and 37m customers
in France.

BPCE already has operations in Cameroon, the
Congo, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritius and Madagascar.

BPCE said that it has a budget of €1bn for
acquisition, but might raise this if needed, the bank said.

Sign up for our daily news round-up!

Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights.

Sign up