WesWorld

Summary
The French financial sector.

Drouot Group
A French insurance company.

Société Générale
The bank was founded by a group of industrialists and financiers during the second empire, on May 4, 1864, to support the development of commerce and industry in France. The bank's first chairman was the prominent industrialist Eugène Schneider (18051875) followed by Edward Blount, a Scotsman.
The company started to hire employees and establish offices. Coverage of France went ahead at a steady rate. By 1870, the bank had 15 branches in Paris and 32 in the rest of France. It set up a permanent office in London in 1871.

At the beginning, the bank used its own resources almost entirely for both financial and banking operations. In 1871, Société Générale moved into the public French issues market with a national debenture loan launched to cover the war indemnity stipulated in the Treaty of Frankfurt.

From 1871 to 1893, France went through a period of economic gloom marked by the failure of several banking establishments. The company continued to grow at a more moderate pace; in 1889, there were 148 banking outlets, demonstrating the group's capacity to withstand unfavourable economic conditions.

Starting in 1894, the bank set up the structures characterising a large, modern credit institution. As well as collecting company and private deposits, its branches started to provide short-term operating credits for industrialists and traders. It also moved into placing shares with the general public, issuing private debenture loans in France and also in Russia. Acquisition of equity stakes became a more secondary activity. The company's excellent financial health allowed it to expand its shareholding structure.

In 1895, Société Générale had 14,000 shareholders; in 1913, they numbered 122,000. The war years were difficult and had serious consequences with the loss of Russian business. However, during the 1920s Société Générale became France's leading bank: its network had grown sharply since the 1890s, with a huge number of branches and seasonal offices allowing in-depth penetration of the provincial market (260 seasonal offices in 1910 and 864 in 1930).

The number of sales outlets rose from 1,005 in 1913 to 1,457 in 1933 (including those operated by Sogenal). Thanks also to the dynamism of supervisory and management staff at head office and in the branch offices it moved ahead of Crédit Lyonnais (in terms of deposits collected and loans distributed) between 1921 and 1928. To satisfy the requirements of investing companies, Société Générale created a subsidiary, Calif, specialised in medium-term credit in 1928.

Mutuelle de L'assurance contre L'incendie (the Ancienne Mutuelle)
The "Ancienne Mutuelle" was originally founded in 1817 as Mutuelle de L'assurance contre L'incendie. It operates primarily in Western Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America, although it has branches in the Middle East as well. It involves itself with life insurance, personal savings, and asset management.

Crédit Foncier de France
Founded in 1852, Crédit Foncier de France is a national mortgage bank located in Charenton, just outside the Paris city limits. It generally conducts its business by making loans to communes.

Crédit Commercial de France (CCF)
Ernest Méjà and Benjamin Rossier founded Banque Suisse et Française at 27, rue Laffite, Paris, on 1 July 1894. They had previously worked together for Banque Fédérale S.A. and their new firm began by taking over the business of the Swiss banks Paris branch. Méjà remained as joint managing director of the bank with Rossier until his death in 1910. Rossier then continued to run the bank until his retirement in 1936. Both mens valuable contributions to the French economy were recognised when they were made chevaliers of the Légion dhonneur. In the 80s the board discussed to bring Benjamin Rossier's grand nephew Jacques Rossier into the bank but discussions never materialized and Jacques Rossier became later senior partner of the private bank Hentsch & Cie in Geneva, Switzerland.

From its early days, Banque Suisse et Française took an active interest in commerce and industry. A successful working relationship was developed with the Paris department store Galeries Lafayette. The bank also helped fund the construction of the new Métropolitain underground system and the installation of public lighting in the capital. The early success of the business led to considerable expansion. The number of employees rose tenfold by the turn of the century, and the bank moved to larger headquarters at 20, rue La Fayette. From 1912, the bank began to develop a branch network, with 14 offices opening in Paris and a first provincial office in Lille. An office was also acquired in Marseilles when the business of Banque du Colombier was taken over in 1914.

Bolloré
A French investment and industrial holding group headquartered in Puteaux, founded 1822.

Banque des Pays de l’'Europe Centrale
Founded in 1888, the BPEC serves customers in Central and Eastern Europe. It is one of the key financial institutions for French businesses investing in Eastern Europe.

Compagnie Parisienne de Garantie
A French insurance firm, established in 1934 to provide automobile insurance.

Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie
On April 18, 1932 the French Government replaced Banque nationale de crédit (BNC) which failed as a result of the 1930s recession with the new bank Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie (BNCI). The former banks headquarter and staff were used to create BNCI with fresh capital of 100 millions francs. The bank initially grew rapidly through absorbing a number a regional banks that got into financial trouble. Tt continued to steadily grow its retail business in France and its commercial business overseas in the French Union.

Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris
On March 7, 1848 by the French Provisional Government founded the Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris (CEP) in response to the financial shock caused by the revolution of February 1848. The upheaval destroyed the old credit system, which was already struggling to provide sufficient capital to meet the demands of the railway boom and the resulting growth of industry. The CEP grew steadily in France and overseas, although in 1889 there was a crisis in which it was temporarily placed in receivership.

Banque de l'Union Parisienne
The Banque de l'Union Parisienne was was founded on 5 January 1904, with initial capital of 40 million francs. Société Générale de Belgique held 15%. The house of Demachy later took a share of the capital, which steadily grew to 340 million francs by 1929. The institution was mainly owned by French and foreign banks, with few individual shareholders, but there were a few institutional investors and high net worth individuals. It is involved with investment banking.

Banque de l'Indochine
The Banque de l'Indochine was a bank established in Paris on 21 January 1875 to operate in Indochina, Asia, and the Pacific. It issued banknotes, not only in French territories, but also in China and elsewhere.[a] From 1875 to 1888, it functioned as a colonial bank to help the French government manage its colonial properties in South-east Asia. Since that point, it has developed extensive branches outside Indochina. Major branches include:
- Hanoi
- Saigon
- Haiphong
- Canton
- Shanghai
- Tianjin
- Beijing
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Papeete
- Noumea
- Djibouti

AGF (Assurances Générales de France)
Assurances Générales de France is a French insurance company, headquartered in Rue de Richelieu, Paris. It was founded in 1818.

Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas
Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (Paribas) was established on January 27, 1872 through the merger of Banque de Crédit et de Dépôt des Pays-Bas, which had been established in 1820 by Louis-Raphaël Bischoffsheim in Amsterdam, and Banque de Paris which had been founded in 1869 by a group of Paris bankers. It went on to develop a strong investment banking business both domestically in France and overseas.

During the period 1872 to 1913 it was involved in raising funds for the French and other governments as well as big businesses through a number of bond issues. It helped the French government raise funds during the Great War and raised further capital and expanded into investments into industrial companies during the 1920s and 1930s.