Overdraft fees, pay, ecology: three French banks criticised in new report

A new consumer report has identified three major French banks - including Société Générale - which it claims have “the worst working practices” nationwide.

The study by 60 Millions de Consommateurs evaluated major banks in France for their practices across three areas:

• Social responsibility: e.g. Bank charges, equality between men and women, pay gaps

• Transparency: e.g. Tax optimisation, vigilance against money laundering and the financing of terrorism

• The environment: e.g. financing of projects linked to fossil fuels, deforestation, etc.

The study was conducted in partnership with NGOs including Fair Finance, Oxfam, Profundo, Reclaim Finance, and Transparency International France.

In results published on September 26, the three worst banks were found to be: 

• Société Générale

• BNP Paribas

• Crédit Agricole

BNP Paribas and Société Générale, in particular, scored poorly on factors such as pricing policy, parity, and pay differentials between employees and managers.

Similarly, both scored poorly on aspects such as helping customers in financial difficulty (overdraft charges, charging for debtor account information letters, etc.). 

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Société Générale rated particularly badly for the pay gap between managers and employees. For example, CEO Slawomir Krupa earns 45 times the average annual pay of the company’s staff.

The consumer association also looked at the environmental impact of banks and their choices (e.g. on tax optimisation and transparency). 

Again, the worst performers were BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole. Findings included:

• Société Générale invested 16% of its profits in tax havens

• Crédit Agricole invested €243 million in companies responsible for deforestation

• BNP lent nearly €2 billion to these same companies.

Similarly, the report singled out La Banque Postale for having been handed a €66 million fine for failing to report transactions linked to money laundering or the financing of terrorism. 

However, the study did concede that since 2020, La Banque Postale has changed its policy in this area.

Best performers

The study found that “smaller banks such as Crédit Coopératif and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa had a better score” in almost all areas reviewed.

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And not all the major banks scored badly. Crédit Mutuel, for example, notably received average scores (as opposed to low ones) in almost all areas.