France's Credit Agricole to expand in Germany with retail business (updated)

Credit Agricole SA

08/10/2026 10:43

Bank to offer basic checking accounts for retail customers this year
Further offerings planned in 2027
Credit Agricole follows JPMorgan's retail launch earlier this year
Adds details, background on other banks' offerings
FRANKFURT, Oct 8 (Reuters) - French lender Credit Agricole CAGR.PA on Thursday laid out plans to expand in Germany with some banking services for retail customers by the end of October, the latest such push into Europe's largest economy by a big foreign bank. 
Credit Agricole has been present in Germany for decades and until now has largely focused on large companies as customers but also has a consumer loan division.
Now the French bank is planning to offer basic checking accounts for retail customers this year and expand with more offerings in 2027 as it aims to become a full-service bank.
"Germany is central to our European ambitions," CEO Olivier Gavalda told journalists in Frankfurt.
Credit Agricole, which already has hundreds of employees throughout Germany, follows US banking giant JPMorgan Chase, which opened its Chase digital retail bank in Germany earlier this year. 
Germany is Europe's biggest banking market but also one of its most crowded and competitive, with an array of private banks like Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and UniCredit, as well as savings and cooperative banks.
When JPMorgan launched earlier this year, it offered an initial 4% rate on deposits to customers to attract them and prompting some competitors to react. 
Deutsche Bank's Postbank brand responded with a 3.2% ​promotional rate for new clients on deposits for a six-month ​period, while Deutsche's smaller Norisbank brand offered a 4% rate and a ‌one-time bonus to switch from another bank.

 (Reporting by Tom Sims, editing by Linda Pasquini and Thomas Seythal)
 ((Tom.Sims@thomsonreuters.com))