Paris, 14 October 2009

On the 27th of October, Crédit Agricole S.A. will fully redeem the €3 billion in highly subordinated notes that were taken up by SPPE in December 2008. The ongoing placement of highly subordinated notes on the European institutional market and the other similar issues carried out by Crédit Agricole over the past several months make, to a large extent, this redemption possible.

This decision is explained primarily by the confirmed financial strength of Crédit Agricole Group and, within the Group, of Crédit Agricole S.A., which reported high solvency ratios at 30 June 2009 (Tier 1: 9.2%; Core Tier: 8.6%), sustained by high level of shareholders' equity (€43.7 billion).

Crédit Agricole S.A. emphasizes that it had not issued any preferred shares under the second tranche of the recapitalisation scheme proposed by the French government. Lastly, as the leading financial partner to the French economy, Crédit Agricole S.A. reiterates that it will continue to honour its commitment to actively deliver new loans to the economy and that it will apply the compensation guidelines laid down by the FBF, which were confirmed at the G20 summit.

* Société de Prise de Participation de l'Etat