Crédit Agricole 140 years of history: 1940s - War and reconstruction
The Second World War disrupted the organisation of Crédit Agricole.
First, the German invasion forced some regional banks to move their headquarters. This was the case of the Ardennes regional bank, for example: its managing director, Louise Tallerie, evacuated at the beginning of the war and took the bank’s accounting ledgers with her to protect them. It was only when the armistice was signed in 1940 that she returned to Charleville-Mézières and could restart the regional bank’s activity to meet farmers’ needs.
At the national level, the separation of France into the free zone and the occupied zone obliged the Caisse Nationale to open a branch in Vichy to be able to meet the needs of the regional banks in the south of the country.
5-year note issued by the Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole (1942).
During the war, in 1942, 5-year notes were created: bonds issued by the Caisse Nationale and placed with the public by the regional banks to finance loans for the reconstruction and modernisation of farms. These were very successful for many years.
The money raised was used, for example, to finance new preferential-rate loans made available to young farmers from 1946 to enable them to acquire property, livestock or machinery.
This assistance to help young people start out in farming put Crédit Agricole at the forefront of the fight against rural exodus.
The end of the war allowed Crédit Agricole to return to its pre-war structure. However, the regional banks wanted to have more influence on the institution’s overall operations. The Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole was therefore created in 1947. This “parliament of the regional banks” made them stronger in their relations with the government and its representative, the Caisse Nationale. The regional banks gained a bigger voice and greater influence on Crédit Agricole’s policies.
In the same Series
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Crédit Agricole 140 years of history: 1970s - From rural to internationalFrom 1971, Crédit Agricole’s geographical scope gradually expanded. -
Crédit Agricole 140 years of history: 1960s - A decade of renewalSince 1897, Crédit Agricole received advances from the government each year, which it had to repay. -
Crédit Agricole 140 years of history: 1950s - Expansion of the networkIn the early 1950s, Crédit Agricole developed savings inflows to boost financing for French farmers. -
Crédit Agricole 140 years of history : 1930s - Helping farmers through the crisisThe 1929 crisis that began in the United States reached France in the following years. -
Crédit Agricole 140 years of history : 1920s - Electricity and housingThe birth of the Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole -
Crédit Agricole 140 years of history : 1910s - Serving the entire countryAt this time, two important measures strengthened Crédit Agricole’s action in its fight against rural depopulation. -
Crédit Agricole 140 years of history : 1900s - First extension of the scope of actionThe first decade of the 20th century saw Crédit Agricole establish a lasting presence in the regions. -
Crédit Agricole 140 years of history : 1890s - A bottom-up organisationCreation of the local banks -
Crédit Agricole 140 years of history : 1880s - Creation in the JuraOur story begins in 1885 in Salins-les-Bains in the Jura.