Paris, 15 October 2007

Laurent Paillassot has been appointed deputy chief executive officer of LCL with responsibility for business development, effective 1 December. He will be in charge of the ten regional directorates of the LCL network, as well as the Marketing, Distribution and Private Banking Division.

Laurent Paillassot, 42, began his career in 1989 with Compagnie Bancaire, part of the Paribas group. In 1997, he joined Mitchell Madison Group, a US management and consulting firm specialised in finance. In 2000, he moved to the French Savings Bank Group, first as director of distribution and partnerships at Caisse Nationale des Caisses d'Epargne (CNCE) and then as CEO of Caisse d'Epargne Financement. In 2005, he took up his current post as President of GE Money Bank, a subsidiary of General Electric Consumer Finance, in France.

Mr Paillassot graduated as an engineer from Ecole Nationale des Ponts and holds an MBA from INSEAD.