Despite a profit close to two billion euros, the general director of Crédit Agricole expects "a drop in loan requests and perhaps an increase in risks"

Crédit Agricole fears suffering the fallout from a French political crisis. The bank, which announced this Friday a profit up 18% over one year, to 1.99 billion euros, was very cautious in its comments. “Investment requests and projects in France are slowing down overall, noted Olivier Gavalda, the general director, at a press conference.

It is therefore very likely that we will see a decline in loan applications and perhaps an increase in risks. We obviously hope that this will not be the case, but we remain very cautious. "The leader has in particular the adoption of a budget, announced to be difficult without resorting to 49.

3 or orders. In this political uncertainty, borrowing costs have exploded, with the 10-year OAT rate exceeding 5% in recent weeks. Above all, he is one of the first CAC 40 leaders to so clearly express his concerns about the budgetary impasse.

Activity continues to do well If the repercussions on French banks, which have all announced large profits, remain uncertain, Crédit Agricole fears that the increase in borrowing costs will reduce investment opportunities. The growth figures, still declining in the third quarter, are not likely to reassure managers either. The bank has also strengthened its risk provisions, aware of being exposed to factors that it does not control.

In particular, it has seen its loan losses increase, resulting from non-repayment or negative margins due to the increase in refinancing costs. Despite everything, the turnover of French retail banks increased by 17% year-on-year, with growth above 10% in investment and stock trading. This, however, did not convince investors, with the stock plunging more than 1.5% this Friday and confirming a fall of more than 15% since the start of the year.

Machine-translated from French