Performance and compensation

The development of Crédit Agricole S.A. employees’ skills is inherent to the company’s Human-centric Project. To adapt to changing business roles, various mechanisms are in place within the Group.

Thus, annual discussions between employees and their manager aim to establish a progress feedback loop to foster professional development. 

To this end, the Group’s appraisal and development campaign is structured around two annual interviews: the appraisal and the professional interview. Both interviews are formalised in a career monitoring and management tool.

 

 

Annual appraisal

Each employee in long-term employment has an annual appraisal interview to review the year in question.

Employees are asked to conduct a self-assessment and suggest objectives for the upcoming year.

After discussions, the manager finalises the appraisal and approves the objectives for the upcoming year. Managers also save in the career management tool any strengths and areas for improvement, following an assessment of professional skills.

 

The latter cover in particular:

• •  Hard skills: general, technical or specific knowledge necessary to carry out the employee’s function.
• •  Soft skills: attitudes and behaviours that are applicable to all functions 
• •  Managerial skills: specific skillset expected from employees in managerial positions.

Additionally, since 2022 the Group has been rolling out a new 360° feedback system that encourages discussion and the ongoing development of employees throughout the year. Requests for such feedback are made by employees directly, and can also be requested from other work colleagues, including project managers, peers, team members etc. 

 

 

Annual professional interview  

This interview is an opportunity for employees to develop a professional career plan that is consistent with their career path, skills and prospects, and relevant to the Group's needs.

The professional interview is a legal obligation for French companies, to be carried out every two years.

Within Crédit Agricole S.A. in France, a professional interview is planned every year, and a summary interview that reviews the career to-date of the employee takes place every six years. 

 

 

As a leading player in the banking market, both nationally and internationally, Crédit Agricole S.A. applies a compensation policy that aims to align the interests of Clients, Shareholders and Employees in an increasingly competitive and regulated market. 

This compensation policy contributes to conveying the values of fairness, transparency and usefulness, which are key to the Group. It contributes to the implementation of the three founding principles of the Human-centric project, drivers of the Group’s Raison d'Être: accountability of employees, boosting customer proximity and developing a framework of trust.

The compensation of employees and senior managers is determined on the basis of precise and clear criteria that reflect the skills used and the seniority, individual and collective performance delivered within the context of the organisation's sustainable responsibility. 

Fixed elements, social benefits and peripheral elements together constitute the Group’s compensation policy. Each of these elements meets different objectives in terms of remuneration of performance in the short and long term, consistent with the 2022-2025 MTP.

Employees may benefit from all or part of these components, depending on their level of responsibility, skills and performance:
 

• •  Fixed remuneration,
• •  Annual variable remuneration, linked with reaching individual and/or collective objectives consistent with the 2022-2025 Medium-Term Plan,
• •  Collective variable remuneration, according to the entity’s annual performance,
• •  Long-term variable remuneration, for executive managers, according to the Group’s economic, stock market and societal performance,
• •  Peripheral benefits add to direct remuneration, and includes retirement, healthcare and pension schemes.

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Since 2020, 10 million euros have been dedicated by Crédit Agricole S.A. specifically to ensure equal wages between men and women. All Crédit Agricole S.A. entities have access to dedicated funds to reduce potential gender pay gaps and have implemented measurable and quantifiable efforts, as evidenced by the good results on the gender equality index.

Collective variable remuneration and peripheral compensation
 

• •  Company Savings Plan (PEE): 100% of employees in France have access to a company savings plan with matching contributions from Crédit Agricole S.A. entities.
• •  Group Retirement Savings Plan (PERCOL): 100% of employees in France have a PERCOL, which is also funded by Crédit Agricole S.A. entities.
• •  Profit-sharing and incentive plans: 100% of employees in France benefit from profit-sharing agreements and incentive plans specific to each entity.
• •  Life insurance: 100% of employees in France are covered by life insurance schemes with partial or total coverage of contributions depending on the entity. Since January 2015, the life insurance fund has been pooled at Prédica within the Canopée scheme to pool the risk of Providence contracts (death, disability or temporary disability) for Crédit Agricole S.A.’s employees in France.  
• •  Health insurance: 100% of employees in France are covered by a health insurance policy. Depending on the entity, the basic plan is mandatory or optional for spouses and children. Some entities have also taken out supplementary hospitalisation and specialist insurance policies.

 

In 2023:

Additional benefits

 

Throughout their careers, employees have access to a number of benefits offered by the Group, Crédit Agricole S.A. and the works council (Comité Social et Economique, or CSE) of each entity. These benefits aim to improve employees’ work-life balance. 

The Individual Social Report given to each employee every year provides an overview of the benefits received during the year: components of compensation and, in particular, the company's participation to supplementary health insurance, retirement and life insurance schemes, and the social and cultural activities handled and suggested by the works council.

Other benefits include the partial refund of public or active transport costs, subsidies to the various staff canteens, monetisation of leave credits, and long-term service awards.

Paying a fair, living wage

 

In 2022, the Group Human Resources Department launched a living wage initiative within Crédit Agricole S.A. and all its subsidiaries worldwide.

To this end, the Group has adopted the Fair Wage Network’s definition of a living wage, i.e. A wage that ensures minimum acceptable living standards. It enables workers and their families, depending on their geographical location, to have an acceptable standard of living while participating in social and cultural life. It aims to cover the basic needs of a family comprising all necessary areas of expenditure, and in particular housing, food, child care, education, health care, transport and communication, and enough remaining for leisure and/or precautionary savings in order to cope with potential unforeseen expenditure.

The internal review of payroll data as at end September 2023 used the methodology and database of the Fair Wage Network.

Within the scope covered by the study, i.e. 87% of employees, 100% of Crédit Agricole S.A. employees on permanent and fixed-term contracts receive a living wage, enabling them to meet their basic needs.

 

Compensation awarded for 2023

 

The Chairman of the Board of Directors only receives fixed compensation.
The annual variable compensation of corporate officers is partly paid immediately and partly deferred.

Click here to find out more about executive compensation (URD 2023).

In 2023, the equity ratio between the level of compensation of each Executive Corporate Officer and the average compensation of the employees of Crédit Agricole S.A. in France was: • 8 for Dominique Lefebvre, Chairman of the Board of Directors • 34 for Philippe Brassac, Chief Executive Officer • 19 for Olivier Gavalda, Deputy Chief Executive Officer • 20 for Jérôme Grivet, Deputy Chief Executive Officer • 28 for Xavier Musca, Deputy Chief Executive Officer

 

2024 compensation policy

The main purpose of the Executive Corporate Officers’ compensation policy is the recognition of performance over the long term and the smooth implementation of the Group’s strategic plan.

The policy is aligned with the social interests of the company, as it takes into account aspects of sustainable performance as well as short-term financial results.

 

Performance assessment for 2024
 

Annual variable compensation

To ensure complete independence in the performance of his duties, the Chairman of the Board of Directors does not receive any variable compensation.

The Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officers are eligible for individual variable compensation, the amount of which for a given financial year is contingent on performance. The target is set respectively at 100% and 80% of their fixed compensation, capped at 120% if the target is exceeded. 
Performance assessment is based on criteria defined by the Board of Directors, as described in the Universal Registration Document here.
 

Long-term incentive plan

Since 2020, the senior executives (the “dirigeants mandataires sociaux exécutifs” in French) benefit from the free allocation of performance shares, within a budget strictly limited to 0.1% of share capital, in order to strengthen their contribution to the long-term value creation of Crédit Agricole S.A.

The number of shares allocated each year by the Board of Directors, whose acquisition contingent on the achievement of a target performance, is capped at a value of 20% of the annual fixed compensation. Overperformance may lead to the the delivery of the maximum number of shares, i.e. 120% of this target allocation.

The acquisition of these shares is determined, in particular, by the fulfilment of three demanding conditions regarding economic, stock market and societal performance assessed over a period of five years.

The acquisition of the shares is followed by a retention period of one year.

In addition, the senior executives are required to hold, until they leave office, 30% of the shares acquired each year.