Corporate Culture and Ethics

In order to develop its management culture, the Group has established dedicated development programmes to support its leaders, managers and employees.

This new management culture can be broken down as follows:

• leaders, who give meaning and responsibility,
• entrepreneurial managers, who share the new codes of conduct with all the men and women of the Group,
• employees, who take an active role in their careers and who train in digital, behavioural and interdisciplinary matters to continuously upskill and adapt to changing markets and society.

Fundamental rights

Group Crédit Agricole operates worldwide in compliance with human rights and basic social rights. To make this commitment known publicly, the Group is a signatory to the UN Global Compact (2003) and the UK Modern Slavery Act (2021).

Additionally, in line with its adhesion in 2017 to the Global Deal (an international initiative advocating social dialogue) and as part of the social pact set forth in the Group’s Human-centric project, an International Framework Agreement was signed on 31 July 2019 with UNI Global Union, a global union federation for the skills and services sectors. This agreement reasserts the Group’s commitment towards respecting fundamental freedoms and rights. 

Ethics

Group Crédit Agricole has established ethical principles common to all entities making up the Group, i.e. regional banks (caisses regionales), Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole, and Crédit Agricole S.A.

In addition to meeting legal and regulatory requirements, the Group’s culture of compliance and ethics is based on:

• the Code of Ethics, made available to the public in 2017 and common to all Group entities, which asserts the Group’s commitments, identity and values of local presence, responsibility and solidarity. It also highlights the principles of action that should be upheld on a daily basis vis-à-vis customers, society as a whole and employees, by adopting an ethical behaviour,
• the Codes of Conduct, which translate the principles of the Code of Ethics into operating standards to be applied in a form suited to the specific nature of each entity’s activities, thereby guiding the actions and behaviour of each individual on a daily basis. These Codes of Conduct also include a specific anti-corruption section in application of the requirements under the Sapin II Law,
• a policy for the prevention and management of conflicts of interest, in application of the MIF regulation, the summary of which is available here,
• a fraud prevention coordination unit, in place since 2008 within Crédit Agricole S.A.’s Compliance Department,
• the Corpus Fides, a collection of standards and procedures that identify the rules that the Group entities, executives and employees must follow, and which reflect compliance-related regulatory changes.

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Personal data protection (GDPR)

In 2018, Group Crédit Agricole Group drew up two personal data protection charters:

• the first, relating to recruitment, intended for applicants and available here;
• the second, applicable to Group employees and available internally only.

They explain:

• The processing by each entity of personal data of applicants and employees,
• The rights of applicants and employees,
• How and through whom these rights can be enforced.

Presented to staff representative bodies, they apply to all Crédit Agricole Group entities, including the Regional Banks.

These two charters were updated in 2020, in particular to take into account new types of data processing carried out in the entities and to more precisely define the data retention periods.

Whistleblowing

Employees who witness a malfunction, offence or crime within their entity must inform their hierarchy. However, if reporting through this channel is ineffective or unsuitable for the situation (fear of reprisals, pressure from the hierarchy, hierarchy involved, etc.), employees can exercise their right to alert via BKMS® SYSTEMS. The employee can choose to raise the alert anonymously or not. The system was presented to Crédit Agricole S.A.’s representative trade unions, and is open to all Group employees, outside contractors and temporary staff, suppliers and other persons covered by the applicable laws. It covers the entire scope of Group Crédit Agricole, i.e. over 350 entities.

The tool guarantees the confidentiality of the author of the report, the facts contained in the file and the persons concerned. It can be accessed 24/7 through this link, via a personal or professional computer.

Appointed employees of the Group, who are subject to a confidentiality agreement, handle the alert with the greatest attention.

In addition, all Group entities with at least 250 employees, as well as the works council (CSE) of each Group entity, have designated a point of contact responsible for guiding, informing and supporting employees in matters of sexual harassment and sexist behaviour.

Report an alert