Jean-Paul Betbèze has been named Head of the Economic Research department and Chief Economist of Crédit Agricole S.A. He takes over from Pascal Blanqué, who is now Crédit Agricole Asset Management's Chief Investment Officer.

Jean-Paul Betbèze, who is 55 years old, spent the first part of his career between 1974 and 1990 in higher education, where he was Professor at the Paris-Panthéon-Assas university. From 1990 to 2003, he was Head of Economic and Financial Research at Crédit Lyonnais, as well as becoming Head of Strategy from 1995 until 2001. Subsequently in July 2003, he was appointed Advisor to Crédit Agricole S.A.'s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, a position that he held until this latest appointment.

Furthermore, he is also a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Analysis Council, Chairman of UNICE's Commission for Economic and Financial Affairs and of the Political Economics Society, and a member of the Circle of Economists and of the International Conference of Commercial Bank Economists.

Jean-Paul Betbèze graduated from the HEC business school and holds a DEA postgraduate university diploma in Organizational Science. He also holds a doctorate in Economic Science and passed the Economic Science aggregation competitive examination. He has published various books, including “Financer la R&D” (Financing R&D, published by Documentation française, 2005), “La peur économique des Français” (The French Population's Fear of Economics, Odile Jacob, 2004), and “Les dix commandements de la Finance” (The Ten Commandments of Economics, Odile Jacob, 2003).