French superbank BPCE set for August debut

The government-sponsored merger of Caisse dEpargne and Banque Populaire, to form the countrys third-largest retail bank after Crdit Agricole and La Banque Postale, is on target for a 3 August launch. The new bank, to be known as BPCE, taking the initials of Banque Populaire and Caisse dEpargne in capitals, will be 20 percent state-owned and have around 34 million customers, around 8,200 branches, (exceeding both BNP Paribas and Socit Gnrale), 110,000 employees and over 7 million members. BPCE will also have deposits of around 480 billion ($675 billion), 22 percent of total French banking deposits, revenue of about 17.5 billion and Tier 1 capital of 36.5 billion