LCL Bank

It was in August 2005 that LCL communication changed the most. The late Lyonnais Credit, the bank is now more popular and refocused for retail banking. This new strategy gives LCL a boost, now the bank aims for a younger clientele, less elitist.

Already customer of an online bank? Discover online banks on Culturebanque.

LCL banking offer in short

An offer ” Essential »With the account, a bank control card, a customer advisor and a smartphone app. For only 2 €/month.

A customizable offer ” à la carte »With different types of cards, many banking products and services, a dedicated advisor and obviously the LCL smartphone application.

Access to the loyalty program Citystore. The LCL loyalty program allows you to benefit from discounts using your card with partner merchants !

What to choose: LCL Essential or LCL à la carte ?

The LCL bank is among the most important banking players in France. With more than 6 million individual customers and more than 1,700 agents throughout the territory, it appeals to many people of all ages and from all horizons. What’s more, in terms of offers, everyone is free to choose the products that look like them. LCL offers a preconceived formula or à la carte services.

Essential LCL, an offer of grouped products at a more advantageous rate

LCL Essential is an accessible banking offer for only € 2 per month. His key word ? The simplicity ! Against € 2 per month, the customer benefits from a monotitular deposit account, a MasterCard card with systematic balance of balance and access to the LCL application.

With ESSENTIAL LCL, each person can take advantage of the bank’s most basic services for an unbeatable price. The opening of the deposit account is made without any costs. The LCL application, for its part, makes it possible to manage your accounts on a daily basis and to carry out basic operations, such as the implementation of withdrawals or transfers.

What is more, as part of the essential LCL formula, the customer can access the Citystore, a set of partner traders allowing to take advantage of many discounts.

To subscribe to the essential LCL formula, several options are possible. The subscription can be done directly online on the LCL Bank site, as well as on its mobile application, or in a traditional agency. The bank card is then delivered directly by mail to home. Contributions are deducted monthly, from the following month.

LCL à la carte, tailor -made products and services

LCL à la carte works completely differently. It is a free offer that allows customers to choose their banking products and services, according to their needs. Nevertheless, even if it is a fully customizable formula, it gives it access to many reductions.

As part of LCL à la carte, the customer can choose the bank card of his choice. He then added products and services, according to his expectations. More concretely: the more options he joins, the more he takes advantage of significant reductions on the total of his contributions.

As part of LCL à la carte, the customer benefits from 2 % reduction as soon as he has a product or paid service in addition to his card. Then, it benefits from an additional 1 % per product or paid service held in addition, within the limit of 5 % maximum.

The à la carte LCL formula is accessible to all major customers. It can be subscribed online, on mobile or in one of the many LCL agencies. The choice of held products and services is permanently scalable. The discounts are then automatically adjusted month per month depending on the options subscribed.

Communication

Slogan

With “my life. My city. My bank.»LCL places the bank at the center of the life of the French and in the heart of the cities. This slogan represents LCL well as an urban establishment. Also find him the spirit of the Cityystore loyalty program.

Former slogan: “ask your money more”, with its slogan, LCL places the customer in the foreground by showing that he is at the center of the bank’s concerns, to satisfy him and provide more service than competitors.

Logo

The logo represents this will, the typography is more modern and the ellipse is reminiscent of a smile, that of a satisfied customer ?

TV media

LCL relies on ingenious advertising campaigns, they put personalities in their banker, asking more about their money ! At the end of each scene, the banker offers original solutions and the customer is satisfied with.

Human resources: belonging to the Crédit Agricole group

The group regularly recruits employees to develop its activity of its parent company, its regional funds and subsidiaries, internship, work -study and employment offers are presented on the Crédit Agricole HR website. Discover many offers on the dedicated space of Culturebanque.

Summary of the opinion

Summary of the opinion

David Audran

Culturebanque blog manager. Professional experience in retail, corporate finance and financial analysis.

The Crédit Lyonnais Foundation (July 6, 1863)

Crédit Lyonnais, founded in 1863, can be considered as the archetype of banking modernization wanted by Napoleon III. He was a long part of the big French banks and, at the beginning of the 20th century, even occupied first place in the world. Regional establishment that has become national and then international, it was nationalized, with three other credit institutions, by the law of December 2, 1945, before being privatized in 1999. But the conditions of his birth are typical of the Second Empire.

France from 1863

A hundred and fifty years ago, at the beginning of the summer of 1863, three subjects dominated international news: the entry of French troops in Mexico City on June 10 – after taking Puebla on May 17 -, the attempt to put No Poland by the Russians in June after the January revolt and the turning point of the Civil War marked on July 3 by the victory of the Northerners in Gettysburg. On the other hand, the French may not pay great attention to the protectorate requested by Cambodia on August 11 to escape the condominium prepared by Siam and Annam or the will of Napoleon III to transform Algeria into an “Arab kingdom”; They may not have been more interested in the creation of the Red Cross by Henri Dunant (1828-1910) in Geneva on February 17.

More anecdotal but still revealing new centers of interest, the statue of victory discovered on the Greek island of Samothrace – then under Ottoman domination – is transported to France by an opinion of the Imperial Navy. Still in the cultural field, the comments go well on the erudition work that an ancient seminarian, Ernest Renan (1823-1892), published on June 23 on the life of Jesus, while Émile Littré (1801- 1881) Begins the edition of his French language dictionary. As for Édouard Manet (1832-1883), he triggered a beautiful scandal with his lunch on the exposed grass, from May 15, at the Salon des Rédusés; For his part, Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) monitors the preparation of Trojans, the first performance of which will take place on November 4 at the Lyrique Theater.

Quite symbolic of economic, social and political evolution, a delegation of French workers left in July for London – where the first metro line was opened on January 10 – during a meeting in favor of Poland : its members will offer trade in unions to organize the first international workers. Financial circles, they wonder about the provisions of the Minister of Finance, Achille Fould (1800-1867), and the new governor of the Banque de France, Adolphe Vuitry (1813-1885), faced with the maneuvers of the Pereire brothers, Jacob (1800-1875) and Isaac (1806-1880), seeking to use the Savoy Bank to break the monopoly on the issue of tickets. Another banker is talked about, Moïse Millaud (1813-1871), who launched, on February 1, the little newspaper, the first daily newspaper, an operation obviously crowned with success. As for Aristide Boucicault (1810-1877), the founder of the new Bon Marché formula, he bought, on January 31, the shares of his partner Paul Videau, thus remaining the only master of the department store.

Precisely, the economic environment is changing and the legislation adapts: the law of 23 May 1863 on “limited liability companies” poses, for the first time in France, the principle of freedom of societies this type. Financial environments are the real inspirers, in order to allow the extension in the region of the deposit banks system: small capital, no longer having to fear unlimited liability, can be interested in major cases, reserved until then to powerful houses. The appearance of Crédit Lyonnais is therefore not placed by chance at the turn of the 1860s: it is, according to the word of a former director of financial studies of the bank, Pierre Bellanger, of “A whole new type of ‘establishments opening up their doors to the public ”

Lyon moves

The local context is important: in Lyon, since 1859-1860, certain sectors of the regional economy have experienced financial problems of a magnitude such as a new banking organization becomes a necessity. The founders of Crédit Lyonnais will be all the better responding to this request as they are themselves engaged in trading and industry.

Since 1857, the goods have been going through the Lyonnaise agglomeration without breaking up with the PLM railway-railways Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée without breaking. But, for the moment, before being connected to Savoy, the capital of Gaul judges its role as a warehouse threatened by the Saint-Rambert / Grenoble, built before Lyon / Grenoble, and even more by Lyon / Geneva borrowing The territory of Ain and whose tributary Mâcon / Ambérieu puts Switzerland in direct communication with Paris – in other words with the ports of the English Channel or the North Sea. This new resentment opportunity against the capital will explain the test, between 1863 and 1882, of a regional rail network supported by Crédit Lyonnais. In addition, since 1861, the Lyon silk has sold badly, essentially because the American outlet is closed to it by the Civil War. Thus, credit problems affect the silky, the silk and tissue merchant or the large commission agent, who work on a European and global scale.

In addition, a deep transformation is underway in Lyon production: silk gives way more and more terrain to sectors linked to chemistry, cast iron and copper foundries, to the manufacture of sulfuric acid and others Products in connection with the lighting gas industry and mechanical constructions – suspension bridges, locomotives and wagons, dredges, steam boats for river navigation, boilers, tubes and cables. In this perspective, chemical, coal and gas industries have little to fear from the release of exchanges: the place constitutes one of their election financial land. The preparation of a regional rail network also draws the attention of leading economic circles, based on the oldest local tradition in France. Two families of entrepreneurs and manufacturers play a leading role: the Lucien brothers (1833-1900) and Félix (1836-1902) Mangini- of Piedmontese origin- and Alexandre (1829-1902), Jules (1835-1909 ) and Paul (1835-1895) Frossard de Saugy-Des Vaudois. In 1863, the Saugy, owners of the Buire railway equipment construction plant, in Lyon, were still separated from the Mangini, railway entrepreneurs, but they were united in 1866 under the patronage and with the Lyonnais credit assistance.

Capital available

When he had restored the monarchy, Napoleon III said: “The Empire is peace. “In August 1860, he urged Lyonnais more particularly to engage” with confidence in peace work “. All agree to request economic guarantees – lowering of the price of domestic transport by competition – and political insurance – a diplomatic and non -warlike activity – so that a crazy equipped like that of the uncle does not start again like that of the uncle. More specifically, business circles emphasize the conditions necessary for the proper functioning of a gradual release of international exchanges. Hence their attention, in 1862-1863, to the question of the SARL: these constitute, declares the Chamber of Commerce of Lyon, “the school where business practice is learned”.

Free trade from the 1860 treaty with the United Kingdom seems to offer their silk and silk traders their greatest chance, even if they are impatient for the slowness of its application. In addition, the more the business circle extends, the more short -term you have to find large cash facilities – especially since it has already experienced problems on this subject. However, Lyon has considerable capital. Traditionally, twice in the year, in June when purchasing bristles and, at a lower degree, in October for the wine, waters and garances campaign, the cash leaves the city by major masses. The place constitutes a kind of reservoir where all lunch comes to draw its species. In addition, since 1860, with the establishment of the kingdom of Italy, a new current has been confirmed, that of funds intended to provide for the needs of the new political entity from beyond the Alps-especially since the Piedmont has long been provided in Lyon in fresh money. In short, as the Inspector of the Banque de France says who will wonder about the origins of Crédit Lyonnais, “Each year sees the depths of the trade and industry of this city of unknown financial importance, formed by ‘Intelligence and especially by savings ”.

But local bankers do not have the means to support the silky themselves more and more settled in the Far East, including with regard to insurance; They are, in fact, only the intermediaries, at best representatives, of the great financiers of Paris – when it is not from London. However, the overabundance of the capital’s capital, which local bankers cannot all use, explains the importance of the financial market and the prestige of the Lyon Stock Exchange. This financial market does not live in a vacuum, even if it depends on the Paris Stock Exchange for national and international values. In any case, it testifies to the force of Lyon in capital: its existence constitutes one of the elements allowing the construction of a new type bank.

A discreet birth

At first glance, in Lyon, the dominant element remains railway construction. This is why, reporting on the market session of July 6, the columnist for progress notes that “the most salient event of the day is the rise in Lyon”, that is to say PLM action. He thus ignores what history will remember: the foundation, a few steps, from Crédit Lyonnais. But it is true that this birth takes place in Lyonnaise, that is to say in discretion. Indeed, from Thursday 2 to Monday, July 6, some two hundred rentiers and businessmen gathered before Me Mathieu Thomasset (1828-1905) for the constitutive assembly of the new bank. In the absence of a place at Crédit Lyonnais-installed in a rental location, formerly used by silk brokers to deposit their samples, on the ground floor of the Palais du Commerce-, the assembly was not held in the Study of the notary, but in the offices of the Omnium Company, at the same address, ie the 13 of the Imperial Street (current rue de la République), in what already constitutes the second arrondissement.

The first shareholders were summoned, without distinction of the number of their titles, for the assembly of July 6 “at two precise hours”. Their other colleagues from the board of directors – they will be 19 in all – only follow them. As for the 334 other shareholders, adorned by the public salvation of the title of “founders”, they will never have any right of intervention in the march of the company and only operate a good placement. The press is used: in their numbers of July 12 or 13, local newspapers published a press release from Paul-Émile Vautier (1819-1889), council secretary, calling on the shareholders to pay 75 francs per share, in addition of the 50 already given during the assembly. Then a second text, this time signed by the managing director Charles Sautter (1830-1892), went to the editions of Sunday July 26, announcing the opening of the counters for the next day. It is clearly specified that Crédit Lyonnais can “do all the operations of a bank house in France and abroad” and that it “delivers to each depositor, with a account book, a book of checks, by means of which the customer has the funds deposited ».

The new establishment, therefore opened to the public on July 27, is strong to bring it a deposit box and an advance service on titles. It is a bank for all: anyone, “whatever their condition or condition”, can be opened there an account, on the sole condition of making a first payment of at least 50 francs – or ten to twenty days of salary for an employee. This account will operate free of charge – apart from, of course, the bill of stamps on commercial effects – and will be productive of interest. The statutes also provide other types of interventions: commercial paper discount, advances in current accounts or on guarantees, changes and transfers, purchases and sales of securities in own name or on behalf of the customers, etc. The new establishment ratisse Thus much wider than the Banque de France and private banking homes: the first has no interest in deposits and seconds, whose prestige is based on relations rather than resources, affect only a restricted audience.

“Children of Israel”, “Gentiles” and “Philistines”

The originality of Crédit Lyonnais resides essentially in its legal form, which has given it from any prior approval of the government – it is necessary just a prefectural authorization for the general meetings of shareholders. It is therefore well in the extremely innovative framework wanted by Napoleon III. Its capital of 20 million – the maximum authorized for an SARL, which makes it modest compared to the High Bank – is represented by 40,000 shares of 500 F. During the Constituent Assembly, the founding president, Henri Germain (1824-1905), appears as the biggest carrier, with his 2,150 actions. The eighteen other members of the Council together hold 7,075 shares and 333 people, present or represented in the Assembly, share the remaining 30,775 actions. As for his first board of directors, he includes twelve businessmen from Lyon, three Genevans and two Parisians.

Its initial organization is mentioned in a letter of March 12, 1864, by which the director sends the elements of the profit and losses to Charles Sautter for exercise 1863 to Charles. These figures are intended for the use of “children of Israel, pure elected officials” – in other words, of the president and only members of the board of directors – because the “kind of the door” – the other administrators – will not have right only to global data, in which revenue and expenses will have been gathered by groups; As for the “Philistines”-that is to say the simple shareholders-a “third piece” will be made for them, once the first two was screened. This discrimination, expressed with very Protestant and current biblical images at the time, will make the minutes of the board of directors and, above all, reports to shareholders’ assemblies will only give a simplified image of reality.

Attracted by press releases and the enthusiastic comments of certain journalists, the public flock to the Palais du Commerce to deposit his savings or to solicit loans. The 140 visionary depositors of the first month go to 1,280 from December 31. In his issue of September 12, 1863, the financial week noted: “Crédit Lyonnais wants to be the cashier of the city of Lyon, and we see that, from his beginning, he is making this useful ambition”. The businessman François-Barthélemy Arlès, dit Arlès-Dufour (1797-1872), confides to the economist Michel Chevalier (1806-1879), in a letter of October 13, 1863, that “Crédit Lyonnais walks very well , but in a path opposed to that of the Banque de France ”. For their part, the readers of the public salvation can, on November 14, 1863, marvel: “It is enough for a first payment of 50 francs and therefore you are the customer, the protégé of an institution that puts at your service Its moral influence, its trade relations with the main places in France and abroad, its offices, its employees, its books, everything finally ! We cannot demand better, and we believe that the new establishment will have alone realized this democratization of credit for all, that the gigantic Parisian creations have vainly promised to France. »»

10,000 customers in a year and a half

At the end of 1864, after seventeen months of operation, the new bank already had 10,000 customers. She had to enlarge her rental areas inside the Commerce Palace-where the windows on the ground floor of the Stock Exchange were walled up, under the Western portico, to allow Crédit Lyonnais to occupy the adjacent corridor. In addition to the 20 million capital provided by its shareholders, it now has around thirty million deposits and other borrowing resources, so that the passive of the balance sheet on December 31, 1864 is around 50 million, while the There are some 45 million in banking competitions-discount and advances-and 5 million in the title portfolio-annuities, shares and bonds subscribed or purchased by Crédit Lyonnais for its own account. Of the 5 million of the title portfolio, approximately half concerns two cases recently constituted on the initiative of Crédit Lyonnais in the hope of rapid capital gains: the first, Fuchsine, for the industrial manufacturing of colors in Lyon, the second for the construction and operation of a gas factory in Zaragosse. It also often acts as an intermediary, for example for the placement of loans from the city of Lyon or the Creusot – Eugène Schneider, managing Creusot, does not forget that he participated in his foundation.

The profits are such that, after further endowments to reservations, each of the 40,000 shares in Crédit Lyonnais receives a dividend of 4 francs for the financial year 1863 – lasting five months – and 26.25 francs for 1864. Emitted to 500 francs, these shares resell on the stock market above the peer and the buyers are not lacking since the number of shareholders is more than doubled by the end of 1864. The expansion continues the following year, stimulated by the law of June 14, 1865 which temporarily abolishes the stamp right on bank checks: although the capital remains fixed at 20 million, the total balance sheet will be, at the end of year, greater than 80 million and the results of the financial year will distribute a dividend of 35 francs per share. “If we are looking for the causes of this important development,” said Henri Germain to the shareholders at the assembly of April 30, 1866, if we wonder why most of those who, in Lyon, formerly kept their unproductive money were brought to the Pour into our boxes, we will reply that the ease of depositing the most minimal sums, as the most important, of drawing the same interest from each other and to perceive an income from the money from which we keep free disposition, Created these new habits. “That said, if we believe the letter from Lyon of the following October 18, the founders of the new bank” count in their breast almost all Swiss banking homes, a certain number of the most important houses in Paris, and in Auscuting almost all that our city also has noticed as a fortune and honorability, either in the bank or in the trade or out of business “. Almost lyrical, the editor adds: “We meet young intelligences there who pay their person and who devote to his emerging organization a fertilized activity by a skillful direction. »»

From the region, Switzerland and Paris

The analysis of the list of 353 primitive shareholders is actually instructive, because it allows to kiss at a glance the relations of the emerging organization, its influence and the environments on which its promoters will rely. Figures the solid Lyon nucleus around Henri Germain with silky-banchmen, silk traders, representatives of the Stock Exchange and the Bank, Réliers and the Industry World, especially in the middle of forges.

Equally characteristic is the strong Swiss participation, a sign of the old commercial links between Geneva and Lyon. There are more than 70 Swiss shareholders, all bankers and exchange agents – except a merchant -, mainly in Geneva, but also representatives of the financial circles of Basel, Winterthur, Schaffhouse, Lausanne, Berne and Zurich. Piedmontese and Milanese merchants complete a participation which, to fall from abroad, is nonetheless relatively close. Thus are delimited the main lines of Lyon exchanges and those of an economic region which goes from the metallurgy of the Massif Central to Swiss and Italian manufacturers, with Marseille as a natural exit door – and which prefigures what will be called in the 21st century Alpine diamond.

There remains the last group of which Arlès-Dufour and Henri Germain were able to obtain support, in other words Parisian finance and above all the high bank. These are the Bischoffsheim, Mirabaud, Vernes, Blount, Erlanger, Frémy, Sautter, Marcuard, Jacob Stern, each have 200 to 500 actions. On their side, to complete the complex character of what remains officially a Lyon company, we discover the great practitioners of capitalist Holy Simimonism: Prosper Enfantin (1796-1864)-of which Arlès-Dufour will be the universal legatee-, with 100 actions , and Paulin-Talabot (1799-1865), with 500 actions, in the company of which it is not surprising to find the senator and member of the Michel Chevalier Institute-past of Saint-Simonism in free trade by actively participating in the development of the 1860 treaty with London.

Expanding expansion

The most remarkable aspect that emerges from this group is the interpenetration already carried out between banks, old trading and new industries, made manifest by the composition of the council and by the various activities of some of the administrators. They are entrepreneurs in the full sense of the term, having managed to go beyond the more limited perspectives of the merchant. On the other hand, they kept the Lyonnais virtues of prudence, positive and practical spirit, this “common sense a little flat” later described by the industrialist and politician Édouard Aynard (1837-1913). As the writer Jean Dufourt (1887-1953) will later show in his two reference works, Calixte (1926) and the misfortunes of Calixte (1937), they read a certain assignment of pessimism in business, the economy in Small details and a pronounced bourgeois aristocratism. But the new features of the modern entrepreneur prevail and will transform them into real businessmen: their bank, so obviously local and regional when he left, will thus be able to detach from the environment which saw him born.

Indeed, the expansion of Crédit Lyonnais will quickly measure itself through the openings of seats: 1863: Lyon; 1865: Paris – The original office of rue Drouot is replaced by the branch of rue de Choiseul – and Marseille; 1870: London; 1873: Grenoble, Mâcon and Saint-Etienne; 1874: Belleville, Bourg-en-Bresse, Chalon-sur-Saône, Rive-de-Gier, Saint-Chamond and Villefranche-sur-Saône; 1875: Annonay, Roanne, Vienne and Voiron, but also Alexandria, Constantinople, Cairo and Madrid; 1876: Aix-en-Provence, Aix-les-Bains, Chambéry and Thizy, just like Geneva; 1877: Beaune and Beaujeu and, further, Port-Said; 1878: Béziers, Montpellier, Nice and Nîmes and, finally, Algiers, Oran, Saint-Petersburg and Vienne- abolished the same year.

It is obviously significant to note that, a century later, in 1962, if the establishment of Ile-de-France took a large place, the seats map will always reveal extremely strong density in the Rhône-Alpes region and more particularly in the Rhône, The Loire and Isère. Today, the bank boasts of its 2,077 commercial establishments and banking automata and it intends to open new agencies and even create jobs. However, rapprochement with Crédit Agricole, coupled with growing automation and computerization, seems to be combined with the financial crisis to leave uncertain future prospects: we no longer live in the time of Napoleon III with a continuous progression.

Bibliography and sources

Parisian archives of Crédit Lyonnais 013 AH 002 (documents gathered for the centenary work, including figures for the evolution from 1863 to 1913), 029 AH023 (various documents 1863-1897), 031 AH417 (Bilans, Profit and Loss and Situation Accounts at the end from 1863 and 1868), 031 Ah 442 (monthly balance sheets on October 1 and November 1, 1863), 037 AH010 (Circular letter from Charles Sautter announcing the opening of the office on July 27, 1863), 096 AH001 (Constitutive General Assembly of 6 July 1863 with statutes, documents 1863-1884), 105 AH005 (foundation act of July 6, 1863) and 105 AH011 (alphabetical directory of employees at the headquarters of Lyon between 1863 and 1903).
Bernadette Angraud and Catherine Pellissier, The Lyonnaise dynasties of Morin-Pons to the Mérieux from the 19th century to the present day, Paris, Perrin, 2003.
Jean Bouvier, Crédit Lyonnais from 1863 to 1882. The years of training of a deposit bank, Paris, S.E.V.P.E.NOT. Practical school of high studies, sixth section, 1961, 2 flights. ; Birth of a bank: Crédit Lyonnais, Paris, Flammarion, 1968. Pierre Cayez and Serge Chassagne, The bosses of the Second Empire. Lyon and Lyonnais, Paris / Le Mans, Picard / Editions Cénomane, 2007.
Bernard Desjardins, Michel Lescure, Roger Nougaret, Alain Plessis and André Straus, Crédit Lyonnais, 1863-1986: Historical Studies, Geneva, Droz, 2002.
André Germain, Henri Germain. The founder of Crédit Lyonnais, Paris, Éditions Émile- Paul Frères, 1930.
Maurice Mogenet and Pierre Bellanger, A century of French economy: 1863-1963, Paris, Draeger Frères [for Crédit Lyonnais], 1963.
Christian de Montella, 19, bd of Italians. Lyon Credit, Culture and Foundation, Paris, Crédit Lyonnais / Jean-Claude Lattès, 1987. Notice on Crédit Lyonnais, Paris, Crédit Lyonnais, 1914.
Jean Rivoire, Crédit Lyonnais. History of a bank, Paris, Le Cherche-Midi, 1989.
A century of French economy. 1863-1963, Paris, Crédit Lyonnais, 1963.

Revue title: Revue du Souvenir Napoleonien Revue: 496 page number: 8 p. Publication month: November Publication Year: 2013