Credit Agricole Seen Returning To Low-Risk Roots

By Lionel Laurent

PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - When French bank Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) last unveiled a strategic plan in 2005, it promised international growth far beyond its humble agricultural origins and a big push in the glitzy investment banking business.

Five years on, with these ambitious dreams shattered by the financial crisis and its share price cut in half, the bank's new management is seen winding back the clock to less risky times as it prepares a 10-year outlook due to be unveiled on Dec. 15.

New Chief Executive Jean-Paul Chifflet has already rung in some key changes, replacing the head of Credit Agricole's crisis-scarred investment bank with a green-fingered executive trained in agricultural engineering -- a sign that sleepy, domestic banking is very much back in fashion.

"This is about a group of farmers going back to what they do best," a London-based bank analyst said, citing strong retail and asset management activities that helped Credit Agricole double profits ib the first nine months of 2010.

(Read on...)

French Bank Offers "Disco"-Style Branch Makeover

By Lionel Laurent

PARIS, Dec 3 (Reuters Life!) - French bank BNP Paribas has poured 5 million euros ($6.60 million) into a makeover of its flagship branch opposite Paris' Garnier Opera House, even as market jitters linger over the health of euro zone banks.

Purple shag-pile carpets, a glitzy silver hexagon-patterned ceiling and a wall covered with green shrubs are just some of the decorations adorning the re-opened branch, which has iPads on display and a kids' corner with walls to scrawl upon.

"It's too luxurious...Our taxes may not have paid for it but our fees did," said Nouraï, a 40-year-old hotel manager who has used the branch for 15 years. She described the array of Austin Powers-style colours as "a bit disco" and said the 60s-style makeover would not be fashionable in a few years' time.

The average cost of a standard bank branch in Paris is 300,000 euros, according to Stephane Court, of Equinox Consulting. "BNP's store, at 2,600 euros per square metre, is pretty expensive, but then again this is a completely new kind of branch," he said.

BNP, which has repaid state aid received during the financial crisis, has seen its share price lose 13 percent since a resurgence in fears over euro zone debt began in mid-September. The stock has lost nearly half its value since pre-crisis highs.

Ex-Trader Kerviel Sentenced To 3 Years In Jail

By Lionel Laurent

PARIS | Tue Oct 5, 2010 4:26pm EDT

(Reuters) - Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel was sentenced to three years in jail by a Paris court on Tuesday for his role in a trading scandal and ordered to pay the French bank 4.9 billion euros ($6.8 billion).

The verdict came as a victory for SocGen, which always maintained Kerviel acted alone and without the sanction of his managers at the bank. It had sought payment of damages for the money it lost unwinding the trader's risky market bets in 2008.

Kerviel's lawyer said he would immediately appeal the verdict, which he said was "senseless" and cleared the bank of all blame.

"Jerome is outraged ... that the people who created him have been totally exonerated," Olivier Metzner told journalists outside the courtroom in the Palais de Justice. Kerviel was given a total prison sentence of five years, two years of which were suspended. The public prosecutor had recommended Kerviel serve at least four years behind bars, with a fifth year suspended.

The payment to SocGen equates to 3.2 percent of France's central government deficit for 2010, the GDP of Monaco or 16 percent of the French bank's market value. Kerviel is currently paid 2,300 euros a month as a technology consultant.

(Read on...)

Gym Culture Not Working Out For The French

The pick-up of which I am most proud? When Gawker sister site Jezebel took this one up.

By Lionel Laurent

(Reuters Life!) - The French may love to look good but few are willing to work up a sweat over it.

Despite increasing awareness of the benefits of healthy eating and physical exercise, going to the gym in France is still a niche activity that has yet to capture the mainstream.

France's generous healthcare system, its cultural preference for outdoor sports and its lack of affordable good-quality clubs are seen as reasons behind the country's low rate of gym goers, even relative to laid-back neighbors Spain or Italy.

"It appears to me that more people are sitting in cafes smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee than working out ... the French don't see fitness as a lifestyle," says American-born fitness consultant Fred Hoffman, who has lived in Paris for 21 years.

Only 5.4 percent of French people belonged to a health club in 2008, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, compared with 9.5 percent for Italy, 11.9 percent for the United Kingdom and 16.6 percent for Spain.

(Read on...)

Deutsche Bank Piles Basel Pressure On Rivals

By Lionel Laurent and Edward Taylor

Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:13pm IST

PARIS/FRANKFURT - Deutsche Bank's race to comply with Basel capital requirements ahead of schedule is piling pressure on some straggling rivals to do the same and convince investors of their financial muscle.

Germany's biggest bank preempted the unveiling of the long-awaited new Basel III regime by announcing a 9.8 billion euro ($12.83 billion) cash call on the same day.

It pledged to meet Basel rules by 2013, five years sooner than necessary, despite the purchase of retail lender Deutsche Postbank that will absorb most of the fresh capital.

This will make it harder for other European banks facing potential capital shortfalls like France's Credit Agricole or Germany's Commerzbank to bide their time.

"Reaching Basel targets before the official schedule will, I think, become a point of excellence...There will be some pressure on other banks that are not able to meet this sort of target," said Konrad Becker, analyst with Merck Finck.

(Read on...)

SocGen's Oudea Sees Distant M&A Upturn

By Lionel Laurent and Matthieu Protard

PARIS | Wed Aug 4, 2010 2:02pm EDT

(Reuters) - Europe's banks will focus on fighting sluggish economic growth and tighter regulation rather than carrying out mergers and acquisitions in the near term, the head of French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) told Reuters.

The environment for deal making could improve beyond the next 18 months, but for now opportunities are thin on the ground, Frederic Oudea said in an interview in his office overlooking Paris' La Defense business district on Wednesday.

"Operating challenges are facing all banks...They're the priority for everyone," said Oudea, who has overhauled management at SocGen to help restore confidence after the financial crisis. "Tighter regulation will make things tougher."

(Read on...)

An interview with France's original deficit fighter, Thierry Breton

Breton today runs IT Services company Atos Origin but is still at home when it comes to lean times and cost efficiency.

INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-Atos sees rev upswing, in RBS unit talks

615 words

29 June 2010

19:11

Reuters News

LBA

English

(c) 2010 Reuters Limited 

* Atos Origin sticks to 2010 financial targets -CEO

* Confirms in talks with RBS WorldPay bidders

* Year-to-date order book superior to 2009 period

* H1 sales decline in line, growth seen in later quarters

(Adds quotes, detail)

By Lionel Laurent and Cyril Altmeyer

PARIS, June 29 (Reuters) - French software services group Atos Origin expects an upswing in revenue later in the year as it enjoys a pick-up in orders despite the uncertain economic environment, its chief executive said.

Atos, which supplies IT services to the Olympic Games and specialises in secure online payments, is benefiting from improved business spending on technology in the wake of the economic crisis and believes it can help the more cost-conscious public sector, Thierry Breton told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

"Governments are far from having exhausted all the cost-saving possibilities IT services can give them," he said.

The group confirmed it is in talks with bidders for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) payment-processing unit WorldPay, but only as a business partner and not a financial investor, Breton said.

"Concerning this asset, we indicated we were positioning ourselves more as an industrial partner ... We are in talks with candidates bidding for WorldPay," Breton said, without giving more details.

There are three groups in the final round of the auction for WorldPay -- TPG, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and joint bidders Advent International and Bain Capital -- according to sources familiar with the situation. 

Britain's RBS has put the unit up for sale as part of a series of divestments to appease regulators after it received billions of pounds in state aid.

DEBT THREAT

Despite the uncertain economic environment as governments grapple with their debt load, Atos' Breton reconfirmed the group's 2010 targets and struck a confident note for the future.

The group is forecasting a slight rise in operating margin this year, stable cash flow year-on-year and a debt level close to zero.

"I am not at all changing the criteria we are tracking ourselves against," said Breton.

Breton, 55, a former French finance minister who was known for his dedication to keeping deficit levels in check, said Atos had prepared itself for lean times and more cost-conscious customers.

"Our clients are going to have to manage with increasing parsimony their capital expenditure and that's why we are investing more in high-tech transaction services (like cloud computing)," Breton said.

He said new business opportunities such as cloud computing as well as new energy subsidiary WorldGrid would help the group grow over the next few years.

WorldGrid, which specialises in "smart energy" applications, is expected to make 150 million euros ($183.1 million) in sales this year and should be launched at the end of July, said Breton.

The pressure to spend less in the public sector will also bring opportunities for Atos, though Breton admitted there would be pressure on prices from government cuts in Britain.

Atos Origin has a market capitalisation of 2.4 billion euros and competes with U.S. group Accenture and France's Capgemini

It has said order intake in the first quarter rose 17 percent like-for-like to 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion).

Breton said on Tuesday the group's order book-- excluding the impact of bankrupt German client Arcandor-- was higher year-to-date than in the corresponding period in 2009.

Breton took the helm in 2008, replacing Philippe Germond who left after running afoul of activist investors Pardus and Centaurus. (Editing by Karen Foster) ($1=.8194 Euro)