The group’s third quarter 2020 activity recovered to its pre-crisis levels as it becomes the number one structured product issuer in France.

Crédit Agricole Group reported an underlying net income of €1.9 billion in 3Q 2020, stable (+0.5%) compared to third quarter of 2019.

Underlying revenues were up 1.6% year-on-year to €8.5 billion, thanks to ‘buoyant activity’ particularly in the large customers segment, which posted revenue growth of 11.8%.

Crédit Agricole (CA) became the number one issuer group in France in Q3 2020 with a 28% share of the market, ahead of Natixis (23%) and Société Générale, and up from 23% in Q3 2019, when it was second in the table, according to SRP data.

The group accumulated sales of €712m from 17 products in the period, a 27% decrease by sales volume compared to the prior year quarter (Q3 2019: €987m from 16 products), and down 49% from the previous quarter (Q2 2020: €1.4 billion from 28 products).

Its most successful product in the quarter was LCL Escapade AV, a six-year life insurance linked to the Eurostoxx 50 that sold €178m in July. The bulk of the group’s sales in France came from products manufactured by Amundi (€700m) with the remaining volumes (€13m) provided by CACIB.

Other European markets where it was active in Q3 where Italy, Spain and the UK where it issued nine products in collaboration with Meteor Asset Management (seven) and Dura Capital (two).

Outside of Europe, Japan was an important market for the group. Not only did it issue 11 products  with combined sales of US$77m (Q3 2019: US$123m from 10 products), it was also the derivatives manufacturer behind 26 structures (US$240m) distributed via local securities companies, including Tokai Tokyo Securities, Mizuho and SBI.

CA’s best-selling Japanese product was KI Nikkei M20210730, a one-year registered note tied to the Nikkei 225 that was available via Shinsei Securities and sold US$22.8m during the subscription period.

Another Asian market were it was active was Taiwan, where it sold eight products that were targeted at private banking investors.

Amundi, the group’s asset manager, reported a sharp upturn in business this quarter with net inflows in positive territory (€34.7 billion), due to a ‘major’ rebound in treasury products (€18.8 billion).

Net inflows remained solid on joint ventures (€8.1 billion) thanks to buoyant business in China (€7.2 billion) where the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission granted a licence to the new Amundi Bank of China Wealth Management joint venture, which specialises in wealth management products.

Also of note this quarter was the integration of the assets of Sabadell Asset Management in the consolidated scope of Amundi for an amount of €20.7 billion.

Assets under management rose to €1.7 trillion at end-September 2020 (+4.4% since 30 June 2020).

Ninety-seven percent (€11.6bn) of CA’s medium-long term (MLT) market funding programme of €12bn was completed by the end of October. MLT market issues can be broken down as follows: senior non-preferred (45%); senior secured (34%); subordinated tier 2 (19%); and senior preferred (two percent)

‘Our third quarter results are very robust and they allow us to be, more than ever, committed to strongly support our customers and the economy,’ said Dominique Lefebvre (pictured) chairman of the board, commenting on the results. ‘This is our ‘Raison d’être’ and our model.’

Click the link to read the full third quarter results and the presentation.