Groupe BPCE

Groupe Caisse d'Épargne ("Savings Bank Group") was born in 1818 with the foundation of the Paris savings bank, Caisse d'Épargne et de Prévoyance de Paris. It long grew from the bottom up as an expanding set of local savings banks, until a 1983 legislation created a central financial entity or "national center", the Centre national des caisses d'épargne et de prévoyance (CENCEP). In 1992, CENCEP was replaced by the Caisse Nationale des Caisses d'Épargne (CNCE), which unlike CENCEP was a licensed bank. In 1999, new legislation transformed the savings banks into cooperatives. These developments paved the way for the gradual transformation of the decentralized network of savings banks into an increasingly integrated universal banking group in the next decade.

In July 1999, CNCE acquired majority ownership of Crédit Foncier de France. Also in 1999, France's Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) formed a commercial and investment banking subsidiary, CDC IXIS. In 2001, CNCE and CDC formed a joint venture, Eulia, to which CDC contributed CDC IXIS. In June 2004, CNCE took full control of Eulia and therefore also of CDC IXIS, which it renamed Ixis. Between 2003 and 2008 CNCE separately acquired the French subsidiary of Sanpaolo IMI, including the former Banque Vernes and French operations of the Banque Française Commerciale, and made it its private banking subsidiary under the new brand Banque Palatine adopted in June 2005.

Groupe Banque Populaire ("People's Bank Group") was created in 1878 with the foundation of the first local Popular Bank (French: banque populaire) in the western French city of Angers. In 1917, new legislation established the local Popular Banks' cooperative status and in 1921, another legislative act established a central financial entity, the Caisse centrale des Banques populaires (CCBP).

In 1919, the French state sponsored the creation of Crédit National, a specialized bank. In 1946, the French state created Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur (Coface), a trade credit insurer, and Banque Française du Commerce Extérieur (BFCE), a specialized bank providing export financing services. In 1996, Crédit National purchased BFCE, and the merged entity renamed itself as Natexis, in which natex is a portmanteau of national and extérieur.

The CCBP purchased Natexis in 1998, and renamed it Natexis Banques Populaires. In 1999, the CCBP was replaced by a new banking entity, the Banque fédérale des banques populaires (BFBP). Natexis Banques Populaires purchased Coface in 2002. That same year, cooperative bank the Crédit coopératif joined the Banque Populaire network.

In 2006 the two groups, Caisse d'Épargne and Banque Populaire, agreed to merge their commercial and investment banking subsidiaries, respectively Ixis and Natexis Banques Populaires. The new entity was given the name Natixis, a portmanteau of Natexis and Ixis. Natixis went through an initial public offering on 25 October 2006, after which CNCE and BFBP each owned 35 percent of its equity capital, the rest being free float.

Natixis, however, soon suffered from poor capital allocation and risk management choices in the context of the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, including on investments into Bernie Madoff's funds. Key executives had to resign or were sacked: Nicolas Mérindol and Charles Milhaud, respectively CEO and chairman of CNCE, on 19 October 2008;[8] Bernard Comolet and Bruno Mettling, respectively chairman of Natixis and CEO of BFBP, on 6 March 2009;[9] and Dominique Ferrero, CEO of Natexis, on 29 April 2009.[10]

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  Hôtel Bullion, seat of the Caisse d'Épargne de Paris from 1844
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  Former head office of Crédit Foncier at 19, rue des Capucines
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  Entrance of the building at 115, rue Montmartre in Paris, former head office of Caisse Centrale des Banques Populaires
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  Former head office of Crédit National at 45–47, rue Saint-Dominique in Paris
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  Former head office of Banque Française du Commerce Extérieur at 21, boulevard Haussmann in Paris
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  Hotel de Richepanse at 3–5, rue Masseran, former head office of CENCEP, CNCE and Eulia
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  Le Ponant building in Paris, former head office of Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires
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  Head office of Natixis in 2007, near the Gare de Lyon
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  Former seat of Schneider et Cie at 42, rue d'Anjou in Paris, since December 2007 head office of Banque Palatine