12.08.02 Credit du Nord VUK

Press Release
August 2, 2012
First half 2012:
the Crédit du Nord Group maintains good sales momentum
in a challenging economic environment.
Customer satisfaction and financing of the economy
remain central to its regional bank model
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Net Banking Income: +1.2%
Gross operating income: +1.3%
Cost-to-income ratio: stable at 62.5%
Net income (Group share): +2.8% to EUR 179.4 million
•
Growth of active customer base:
- Individual customers: +3.6%
- Professional customers: +2.2%
- Business customers: +1.7%
On July 27, 2012, the Board of Directors of Crédit du Nord met to approve the 2012 interim financial
statements of the Group (Crédit du Nord and the Courtois, Kolb, Laydernier, Nuger, Rhône-Alpes,
Tarneaud and Société Marseillaise de Crédit banks, the brokerage Gilbert Dupont, and others).
The customer bases grew in all markets (Individual, Professional and Business customers), boosted
by additional customer acquisitions in what remained a challenging economic environment. The Group
topped 2 million Individual customers during the half year.
The 6.2% year-on-year growth in outstanding investment loans clearly demonstrates the participation
of the Crédit du Nord Group banks in financing the regional economy and the development of SMEs.
Outstanding housing loans were up 11.3% year-on-year.
Customer savings were up 9.2% year-on-year. The strong growth in deposits reflects customer
confidence in Crédit du Nord and its regional subsidiaries, enabling the Group to further improve the
stability of its financial resources.
At June 30, 2012, the Crédit du Nord Group’s NBI grew by 1.2%, driven chiefly by a 3.3% increase in
interest margins on deposits. Margins were hurt by the adverse impact of lower short-term interest
rates, but benefited from strong momentum in demand deposits across all markets and in regulated
savings. Despite lower volumes and margins on consumer loans, interest margins on loans increased
by 0.8%, driven by the above-mentioned positive volume effect on housing and business loans.
A tight grip on operating expenses (+1.1%) resulted in a 1.3% increase in consolidated gross
operating income. A 2.3% decline in cost of risk over the period resulted in a 2.6% rise in operating
income.
Net income (Group share) amounted to EUR 179.4 million, up 2.8% on the first half of 2011.
KEY FINANCIAL DATA:
1
30/06/12
30/06/11
In EUR m
In EUR m
12/11
change
Net banking income
977.4
965.7
+1.2%
12/11
change
Not
including
PEL/CEL
provisions
and fair
value of
financial
liabilities
+1.6%
Operating expenses
610.8
603.9
+1.1%
+1.1%
Gross operating income
366.6
361.8
+1.3%
+2.5%
Operating income
278.9
271.9
+2.6%
+4.1%
Net income (Group share)
179.4
174.5
+2.8%
+4.4%
6/30/12
6/30/11
In EURm
In EURm
Deposits
28,408.3
25,894.1
+9.7%
Loans
35,494.0
32,449.9
+9.4%
Managed customer savings
54,115.0
53,862.2
+0.5%
Group consolidated figures
Group consolidated figures
12/11
change
SALES ACTIVITY
Société Marseillaise de Crédit maintained its sales momentum and remains a major growth driver for
the years to come. The migration to Crédit du Nord’s IT system, successfully completed in April 2012,
provided even more effective support for its activities by offering its customers all the products in the
Crédit du Nord Group range. Meanwhile, network reconfiguration continued: in October 2012, Crédit
du Nord branches in the PACA region and Banque Courtois branches in the Hérault department will
move to the Société Marseillaise de Crédit banner, which will become the Group’s sole brand in
southeastern France.
Crédit du Nord also continued to leverage its ambitious branch opening programme: since 2004, over
150 new branches have been opened in high-potential areas, thereby bolstering the Group’s robust
sales results. Their customer bases still offer significant sales potential for years to come.
Moreover, the competition survey1 carried out by CSA in 2012 gave Crédit du Nord the top ranking
among the major French banks in terms of overall satisfaction in the Individual and Business customer
markets, and number-two ranking in the Professional market.
The results of the survey, as well as the Podium de la Relation Client’s top customer relations award
in the Banking sector2, reflect the high quality of our customer relations, which are pivotal to our
growth model.
Individual customers
The active Individual customer base continued to grow in the first half of 2012. The 3.6% year-on-year
increase stemmed from efforts to win new customers, particularly through word-of-mouth
recommendations, as well as the contribution of new branches. As of June 30, 2012, the Individual
customer base totalled more than 2 million.
Alongside this growth, products were sold at a faster pace in the first half. The percentage of
customers with more than six products stood at a high 47.2%.
Savings inflows continued, with the opening of 58,000 new Livret A passbook saving accounts and
29,000 new Antarius Duo and Antarius Sélection life insurance contracts. Life insurance assets under
management increased by 2.3% year-on-year.
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The first half also saw the success of personal protection and casualty insurance, with the signing of
nearly 50,000 contracts.
New housing loans were down 21.6% given the particularly high 2011 comparison base. The decline
was nevertheless significantly lower than that seen in the broader market, with total outstanding loans
up 11.3% year-on-year to EUR 17.6 billion as of June 30, 2012.
Professional customers
The Professional customer base posted robust growth in the first half. The active customer base was
up 2.2%. This outcome reflects the quality of Crédit du Nord’s close customer relations, aimed at
providing an appropriate offer and dedicated customer advisors who oversee both the commercial and
personal aspects of the relationship (nearly one in two Professional customers is also an Individual
customer).
Sales of new products to existing customers further improved, with the success of the Convention
Alliance package deal, owned by 56% of Professional customers. In addition, sales of the Facilinvest
product continued to expand, with nearly 7,500 new contracts signed in the first half of 2012.
The number of multi-company savings plans, employee savings plan designed for small businesses,
individual entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals posted solid growth of 15.4% year-on-year.
Business customers
The Business customer base stands at 48,300, with more than one in four new business customers
posting more than EUR 7.5 million in revenue.
The economic crisis and the wait-and-see attitude adopted by customers led to a slowdown in demand
for loans during the first half of 2012.
Outstanding investment loans were nevertheless up 6.2% year-on-year. Outstanding equipment
leases were up 10.0%. The amount of short-term loans to businesses was up 2.5% year-on-year.
With total outstanding business loans standing at EUR 12.1 billion, Crédit du Nord still contributes
actively to the financing of the economy and the growth of SMEs.
***
Despite an unfavourable environment, the Crédit du Nord Group continued its commercial
development, with growth in all its customer bases.
While the second half of 2012 promises to be even more challenging, Crédit du Nord plans to
continue developing its growth drivers, drawing on the new branches opened over the last
decade and the consolidation of Société Marseillaise de Crédit.
Lastly, Crédit du Nord will press ahead with its plans to pool resources with Société Générale.
The “Convergence” project, launched in 2010 with the aim of building a shared IT system for all
retail banks in the Société Générale Group, will help improve business efficiency, expand the
product offering for customers and lower the cost-to-income ratio.
1.
2.
Source: CSA survey institute, May 2012, competition survey (survey conducted by telephone)
The BearingPoint/TNS Sofres survey was conducted between March 30 and April 9, 2012 on Crédit du Nord customers
stemming from a sample of 4 000 persons
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About Crédit du Nord Group:
Crédit du Nord Group was established through the grouping of some 80 regional banks that have
been pooling their respective strengths and talents for over one hundred and fifty years now. Today,
the Group is constituted of among others eight banks - Courtois, Kolb, Laydernier, Nuger, RhôneAlpes, Tarneaud, Société Marseillaise de Crédit and Crédit du Nord; and a brokerage firm, Gilbert
Dupont.
The Group’s 10,000 employees and network of 949 branches serve 2 million individual clients,
213,000 professionals and 48,300 business clients.
All Crédit du Nord Group entities enjoy a large degree of freedom in the management of their
activities, thereby ensuring rapid decision-making and exemplary reactivity.
The strategy of the Group’s banks is based around three core aims:
• to remain a reference bank in terms of the quality of its customer relationships,
• to develop a high degree of individual and collective professionalism,
• to offer their customers state-of-the-art services and technologies.
The quality and strength of Crédit du Nord Group’s results is recognised by the market and through
Standard & Poor’s long-term rating of A and Fitch’s long-term rating of A+.
Crédit du Nord is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Société Générale.
Press contacts:
Jérôme Fourré
Delphine Deleval
Sylvie Aussavis
Groupe Crédit du Nord
Head of Communications
Tel.: 33 1 40 22 27 53
[email protected]
Groupe Crédit du Nord
Deputy Head of Communications
Tel.: 33 1 40 22 27 77
[email protected]
Groupe Crédit du Nord
Head of Media Relations
Tel.: 33 1 40 22 53 21
[email protected]
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