An active sponsorship policy for society

True to its values of solidarity and proximity, Crédit Agricole S.A. group has always been very focused on initiatives that improve education, public health and access to culture in the regions where its entities are located, both in France and abroad. Crédit Agricole CIB's corporate philanthropy is in line with the guidelines laid down by the Group.

Responding to the health crisis  

Through donations and volunteering, the involvement of Crédit Agricole CIB staff during the health crisis was very significant. Simultaneously, social distancing measures were followed and precautions were taken to ensure everybody was properly protected.

In this difficult situation, the Bank launched many solidarity initiatives to help the most vulnerable communities:

  • In France, Crédit Agricole CIB gave its support to the Crédit Agricole Solidarité et Développement Foundation which created a solidarity fund to finance emergency measures for the elderly; in order to protect them and help them stay in contact with their loved ones.
     
  • The Bank also supported the Simplon Foundation and its “#Gardons le lien” project (#let’s keep in touch) to reduce the loneliness of hospital patients and institution residents.
     
  • Finally, a crowdfunding initiative was set up for the APHP (Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris) to help fund research against Covid-19. Donations made by employees were matched by the Bank.
     
  •  Abroad, Crédit Agricole CIB supported vulnerable communities in this health crisis through donation programmes and participatory financing campaigns.
     

Charitable sponsorship 

Crédit Agricole CIB is keen to encourage the involvement of its employees in the charity projects that are consistent with its mutualist values of proximity, responsibility and solidarity. Crédit Agricole CIB supports solidarity-oriented associations in which its employees are involved through the skills volunteering programme of "Solidaires By Crédit Agricole CIB", which has three components:

  • Solidarity events: employees are encouraged to give some of their time by taking part in charitable events. They become temporary volunteers for special operations to support partner associations.
     
  • Solidarity volunteer missions: employees offer their time and/or skills to an association for a specific mission. Crédit Agricole Group’s dedicated internet site makes it easier to connect employees willing to get involved with the charities supported by the Group: https://www.ca-solidaires.fr/en
     
  • Payroll giving: since April 2020, payroll giving allows employees to donate the cents of their salary via a monthly deduction in favour of a selected charity. Employees can also add 1 to €5 each month to their donation. Crédit Agricole CIB matches each donation. 100% of these donations are sent to one of the 4 charities selected: Hôpital Necker-Enfants malades, Institut Curie, les Restos du Cœur, or Pure Océan.
     
  • Helping Hand: the Bank provides financial support to employees’ charitable projects in the areas of solidarity and social integration, environment, education and health, both in France and abroad. The programme, which was launched in France in 2013, was expanded internationally in 2014. In 2020, 27 projects were supported as part of this programme, including 16 in France, 8 in the United Kingdom and 3 in Asia. Priority was given to projects linked to the COVID-19 health crisis. Since its launch in 2013, 306 projects have been supported by the Solidaires programme.

Many of these initiatives and projects are consistent with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Long-standing partnerships with associations      

The Bank has also forged long-standing partnerships with associations in France and abroad.
 

In France:

  • AFM-Téléthon: Crédit Agricole CIB has been supporting the AFM-Téléthon association for many years and takes part in the Financial Community’s Téléthon race.
     

In the United Kingdom:

  • Ambitious about Autism helps autistic children and young adults by offering specialised education and support in two dedicated schools and a high school.
  • Beanstalk is an English association that helps children with reading difficulties through individual support. Volunteer members of staff help the children with weekly hour-long reading sessions at the Saint Anne school.
  • Richard House Children’s Hospice supports nearly 300 children with life-threatening diseases and their families in Eastern London. The association offers home care and therapy sessions through art, music and dance.

In the United-States:

  • New York Cares is the largest network of volunteers in New York. Its goal is to find volunteers for more than 1 300 associations, public schools and municipal organisations. The partnership between Crédit Agricole CIB New York and New York Cares offers employees the opportunity to take part in local charitable initiatives.
     
  • The mission Bowery has served generations of New Yorkers with food, a safe shelter, clothes and medical care. The partnership between Crédit Agricole CIB New York and Mission Bowery gives employees an opportunity to volunteer in various ways to help New York’s vulnerable communities.

In France and abroad:

  • Children of the Mekong is an association that helps educate children and young adults in 6 South East Asian countries. Since June 2014, Crédit Agricole CIB Hong Kong supports Children of the Mekong and prepares the professional integration of students from the Christophe Mérieux Centre in Phnom Penh (Cambodia). This extra-curricular centre welcomes more than 280 extremely poor students in Cambodia and aims to help them find excellent jobs. Several times a year, Crédit Agricole CIB employees go to the Centre to meet the young people on site and give them courses about the professional world.

Cultural sponsorship 

Crédit Agricole CIB supports several forward-looking projects that encourage artistic creation, the discovery of world cultures and the transmission of cultural heritage.

In France 

  • Opéra National de Paris : in 2018, Crédit Agricole CIB signed for the first time a partnership with AROP-Opéra National de Paris. The Bank is proud to have supported this institution for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons through two performances: The Lady of the camellias, a ballet by John Neumeier, and the new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata in September 2019. The Bank also supported the institution’s 350th anniversary and its international tours (Abu-Dhabi, Singapore, Shanghai, and Tokyo). Crédit Agricole CIB thus became a sponsor of the Opera’s international development.
     
  • Festival d’Aix : the Association for the Festival lnternational d'Art Lyrique and the Académie Européenne de musique are focused on producing and promoting opera works and developing the Académie européenne de musique.
     

In the United Kingdom

Crédit Agricole CIB encourages cultural transmission.

  • The National Gallery : the Bank supports this leading London institution which has one of the most important painting collections in the world.
     

In the United States

For thirty years, Crédit Agricole CIB has been supporting the most important New York cultural institutions.

  • The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) : the Bank supports MoMA’s mission, which is to show the best modern and contemporary art to a wide public.
     
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) : the Met is one of the largest museums in the world and presents 10 000 years of history through paintings, sculptures and objects from five continents.

And before 2020, in France  

From 2010 to 2020, Crédit Agricole CIB worked with several cultural and artistic institutions with two main goals, to support innovative exhibitions and the performing arts, and to train young artists:

  • Le Grand Palais: Crédit Agricole CIB helped set up digital and eclectic exhibitions: Artists and Robots, Lune.
     
  • Le Théâtre du Châtelet: each year, Crédit Agricole CIB has provided its support to the Théâtre du Châtelet’s new show, thus demonstrating its intention to be involved with a bold and innovative policy that combines originality and creativity.
     
  • Le musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac: Crédit Agricole CIB was one of the museum’s Major sponsors (« Grand Mécène ») supporting approximately ten exhibitions.
     
  • Les Arts Florissants: Crédit Agricole CIB was proud to support this institution in its international development, the training of its young talents and the sharing of its passion for baroque music with young people.
     
  • Le Jeune Orchestre de l’Abbaye aux Dames (JOA) : The Abbaye aux Dames is a musical centre in Saintes and hosts the Jeune Orchestre de l'Abbaye. It gives young musicians the opportunity, at the end of their studies or at the beginning of their career, to play the classical and romantic repertoires on period instruments.
     

Research and Innovation Sponsorship and Partnerships 

Crédit Agricole CIB encourages research and exchanges between the academic and corporate worlds.

  • The Finance and Sustainable Development Chair at Dauphine University and Ecole Polytechnique

The Bank supports research and innovation via the Finance and Sustainable Development Chair at Dauphine and Ecole Polytechnique. This multidisciplinary research project is unusual in that it brings together specialists in quantitative finance, mathematics and sustainable development. This is consistent with Crédit Agricole CIB's determination to create a balance between the economy, the environment and social issues.

Since 2010, one of the key areas of research pursued by the Finance and Sustainable Development Chair is to quantify the indirect impacts of financing and investment activities, in particular the greenhouse gas emissions induced by the activities of the Bank's clients.

  • The Fintech / Digital Finance Chair of Paris Dauphine University

Since 2019, Crédit Agricole CIB is a partner of the Fintech Chair of Paris Dauphine University through a partnership agreement aiming to foster an ecosystem combining research, teaching and entrepreneurship on digital finance issues.

  • The HEC Foundation Corporate Initiative

Crédit Agricole CIB is also a partner of the HEC Foundation, financing a course on mergers and acquisitions. Thanks to this training (M&A certificate), supported by Crédit Agricole CIB, HEC Paris students will learn new skills and gain access to new career opportunities.  The curriculum of HEC Paris is strengthened by exchanges within an innovative and unique academic ecosystem.

  • The Village by CA

Through its long-standing partnership with the Village by CA - Crédit Agricole Group's startup incubator and booster - Crédit Agricole CIB helps the Bank's digital transformation. In line with our values of collaboration and sharing, the Bank innovates in an open world, with clients, startups, research and academia. Because we are open to startups from all sectors, Crédit Agricole CIB can support and meet the needs of its clients in their strategic innovation processes.

  • MSc "Climate Change & Sustainable Finance" at EDHEC Business School

Crédit Agricole CIB, Crédit Agricole Nord de France and Amundi are partners of the Master of Science “Climate Change & Sustainable Finance”. This is an innovative programme developed jointly by EDHEC Business School and Ecole des Mines ParisTech that was launched in the autumn of 2021. Through this partnership, Crédit Agricole CIB wants to invest in a pioneering and ambitious programme to train the next generation of finance professionals to the goals of sustainable finance and to include environmental, social and governance factors in their decisions. 

  • Chair "La physique autrement" ("Another look at physics”) at University Paris Saclay 

Since 2021, the Bank supports the popularisation of quantum physics through the University Paris Saclay Chair "La physique autrement " ("Another look at physics"). The goals of the chair are to conduct research into new ways of presenting modern science to the general public, and to disseminate knowledge to sector professionals, students, the national education system and the general public

  • Chair "Banque de marchés de demain" (“Market Bank of tomorrow”) at the Institut Europlace de Finance Louis Bachelier and Paris University 

In 2022, Crédit Agricole CIB supported the creation of the « Banque de marchés de demain » Chair, (“Market Bank of tomorrow”) which aims to better understand the modelling and calculation challenges for tomorrow's market banks.

Finance and Sustainable Development Chair