Pacifica and Crédit Agricole Nord de France finalise their property & casualty insurance agreements

Lille & Paris, 1st July 2010

Crédit Agricole Nord de France Regional Bank has completed the sale of its regional property & casualty subsidiary MRA CA to Pacifica, a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Assurances.

The sale is the outcome of agreements signed in 2002 by Pacifica and Crédit Agricole Nord de France Regional Bank, whereby Pacifica gradually increased its holding in Crédit Agricole's Mutuelle Régionale d’Assurances (MRA CA). As a result, Pacifica raised its stake in MRA CA from 20 per cent in 2004 to 40 per cent in 2008. Under the proviso of obtaining the approval of the ACP, Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel, Pacifica will acquire all MRA CA shares, the majority of which were held by Crédit Agricole Nord de France Regional Bank.

For both partners, this acquisition is in line with the Crédit Agricole Group’s strategic and commercial rationale and fulfils several objectives.

Crédit Agricole Nord de France:
- can pursue its commercial development with a full range of P&C insurance products
- will be able to provide customers with the IT and marketing support services of one of France's top insurance groups.

Pacifica:
- can provide uniform P&C coverage for the Regional Bank networks
- will benefit from the experience acquired by MRA CA in the agricultural market since the company was established in 1986.

Pacifica will retain and protect the jobs of all MRA CA's employees following the acquisition. It will also locate its seventeenth claims management centre in Arras, the second largest local labour market, after Lille, for the Nord de France Regional Bank.

At 31 December 2009 MRA CA had 69 million euros in premium income, 245,000 policies in its book of business and 35,000 claims under management. Pacifica is France's seventh largest P&C insurer with 7.8 million policies and 1.9 billion euros in premium income. In 2009 it handled 780,000 claims.