René Carron, Chairman of Crédit Agricole S.A., and Patrick Duplan, Chief Executive Officer of Pacifica, speaking today at a presentation attended by Junior Employment Minister Laurent Wauquiez, announced the rollout of a home services offering distributed by Crédit Agricole and LCL.

Following a pilot phase in early 2007 involving a number of Regional Banks and LCL branches, the Crédit Agricole Group is now starting to deploy its home services throughout France.

With the government strongly encouraging the development of home services, the Crédit Agricole Group is positioning itself in this market with a high-end offering based on an overall intermediation model. This represents a genuine opportunity for the Group, France's leading bancassurer, since some 70 per cent of customers have already expressed interest in home services if offered by their bank*.

The rollout concerns 1,800 branches of 13 Regional Banks as well as 740 LCL branches across France between April and June 2009. Called Mission Services in the Crédit Agricole network and Groom Services in the LCL network, the offering will be available from 600 authorised providers, or some 150,000 people throughout the country providing all the services covered by the government's social cohesion plan.

Mission Services and Groom Services will be sold in bank branches by subscription, while Mission Services will also be available on an open-access basis as part of Pacifica's comprehensive home insurance policy.

Services are ordered by telephone or online from Viavita, Pacifica's dedicated subsidiary, which provides customers from both networks with a one-stop service combining:
Simplicity: customers purchase exactly the services they need and do not have to employ the provider
Efficiency: an extensive network of providers deliver responsive solutions
Quality and security: providers are carefully vetted and authorised under the government plan and their services are monitored from start to finish. The Crédit Agricole Group is poised to be a major player on this high-growth area. It aims to become the market leader, providing services to 10 per cent of its customers within the next five to seven years.

The home services offering is not only consistent with the Group's values; it will enable Crédit Agricole to strengthen its local roots and contribute to the development and professionalisation of this new market, in line with the objectives of the government's second home-services plan announced on 24 March by Laurent Wauquiez.

The next stages
Extend the offer to a further 9,000 sales outlets nationwide
Subscription by telephone or online
Position Crédit Agricole as a distributor of service payment vouchers (CESU)
Develop and sell specific services to companies, local authorities and professionals.

* Sources: Survey by Sia Conseil/Survey by Synovate and Initial JPS