Working every day in the interest of our customers and society: Compliance and Ethics
The mission of the Compliance function is to support the Group's entities, management, and all Group employees in complying with regulations and professional standards applicable to banking and financial activities, and to contribute to the implementation of the Group's voluntary commitments. More specifically, Compliance works to prevent any situation of non-compliance risk within any Group entity to best protect the interests of clients and stakeholders.
Beyond compliance with all legislative, regulatory, and professional rules governing the Group's various activities, the Group promotes ethical conduct that aligns with its commitment to do more to best serve its clients, who have been, since its creation, the very reason for its existence.
Thus, Ethics and Compliance:
- are an opportunity to convey a positive image of responsible entities concerned with the interests of their clients;
- help preserve the trust of stakeholders (clients, employees, investors, regulators, suppliers, companies) towards the bank.
Within the Crédit Agricole group, the Group Compliance Department defines and implements the group policy for preventing non-compliance risks based on procedures, tools, and training activities. It also ensures the implementation of an innovative program to acculturate employees to ethics and compliance. All these measures contribute to reducing reputational risk.
In this context, the "Ethics & You" quiz is deployed annually to all employees to remind them of the ethical challenges and the importance of ethical conduct in daily activities.
Guiding our conduct: The Code of Ethics and Codes of conduct
The Crédit Agricole group has chosen a framework of reference texts which, alongside legal and regulatory requirements, is based on three normative levels:
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1. The Group Code of Ethics
The Code of Ethics, common to the entire Group and updated in 2025, aims particularly to make the rules to be followed more visible and to disseminate an ethical culture. It serves as a foundation for the ethical and professional conduct to be maintained by all.
The Code is a reference document that:
- affirms our values of Customer focus, Responsibility, and Solidarity;
- states our commitments as a loyal, multichannel bank open to all, allowing everyone to be supported over time;
- implements our principles of actions and behaviors to be respected in our daily activities towards our clients, employees, suppliers, society, and all our stakeholders.
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2. The Codes of conduct of the Group’s entities
The Code of Ethics is operationally implemented through a Code of Conduct specific to each entity. It serves as a real guide for adopting ethical conduct in our daily activities.
The implementation of these Codes of Conduct by all Group entities contributes to managing non-compliance risks and promotes appropriate behaviors. This approach aims to preserve the reputation of each entity and strengthen our ethics towards all our stakeholders.
The Crédit Agricole S.A. corporate entity has thus adopted a general Code of Conduct that also incorporates a specific "anti-corruption" section in compliance with the obligations arising from Sapin II French law, relating to the prevention of corruption and influence peddling.
View the Crédit Agricole S.A. Code of Conduct (updated in August 2021) by clicking below.
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3. The Fides Corpus
This corpus consists of procedural notes that specify the rules to which the Group's entities, managers, and employees are subject, and incorporate regulatory developments in compliance matters.
Each entity of the Group must, at its level, adapt this corpus of standards according to its own organization and in accordance with applicable regulations, including for entities located in countries with less restrictive regulations.
Mobilizing around the risk prevention: the training and information of employees
The Group Compliance Department has implemented training and awareness modules for employees, based on general principles and adapted to the Group's main activities.
The system consists of general training courses that address ethics, combating financial crime, anti-corruption, and international sanctions; in-depth training for certain targeted populations; and specific training or professional qualifications required by regulations to perform certain jobs.
Additionally, "expert" training is provided to employees in the Compliance business line.
Furthermore, members of the Board of Directors also receive training on regulatory issues.
The Group Compliance intranet, accessible to all Group employees, contains useful information for training, reference documentation, as well as the training schedule for experts in the business line.
Acting with transparency: responsible lobbying
The lobbying activities of the Crédit Agricole Group are carried out in full transparency with all stakeholders and comply with prevailing best practices.
The Group Public Affairs department is responsible for coordinating lobbying on behalf of the Crédit Agricole Group. The implementation of the activity is detailed in the document below.