Crédit Agricole rethinks Emporiki restructuring

Crédit Agricole’s international retail banking
unit posted a net loss of €97m ($121.8m) or the first quarter of
2010 as its loss-making Greek subsidiary, Emporiki, weighed on
the results.

But France’s largest retail bank more than
doubled net profit to €470m, from €202m in the comparable period of
2009.

The bank said it was reviewing Emporiki’s
restructuring plan after the European Union and the International
Monetary Fund launched a bailout plan for Greece. 

Jean-Paul Chifflet, chief executive of the
bank, said: “Triggering of the emergency bailout plan….has led
Crédit Agricole to consider reassessing Emporiki’s restructuring
and development plan.” 

Last year, the bank set out a four year plan
to bring Emporiki back to profitability by 2011 (see RBI 620).  The bank has already
written down €739m to enhance Emporiki’s Tier 1 ratio.

But the bank’s domestic unit, LCL and the
Caisse Régionales, the 39 regional banks (see RBI 629 for interview with chief executive of
regional banks, Alain Diéval) fared
better in the first quarter. 

LCL’s net profits jumped 21% to €151m, while
the regional banks’ boosted profits by 87 % to €333m. 

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