They have grown to such an extent that today Crédit Mutuel Arkéa or Crédit Agricole are not only banks deeply rooted in their initial territory, but also major employers and major participants in the banking-insurance sector in Europe. Imagine that Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, headquartered in Brest, has its own trading room, the only one in France located in the region. In the metropolitan area of Brest, the sector has 5,000 employees, or nearly 25% of the total workforce in western Brittany.
“Brest is a city with a history and identity that perfectly express its values of solidarity, commitment and openness. So many values that we share with Crédit Mutuel ARKEA, where we demonstrate, every day, that it is possible to develop sustainably from the most western tip of Europe. In the digital age, distance is no longer an obstacle. We concentrate, here in Brest, all the economic assets of a large metropolis, with an exceptional feature: a living environment unique in its authenticity, like its inhabitants.”
Jean-Pierre Denis
President of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa
FOCUS : le Crédit Mutuel ARKEA
Headquartered in Brest, we find, under this name, all the services of the bank-insurance, through its subsidiaries:
> Arkéa Banque Corporate and Institutional Bank
> Suravenir
> Financo
> Federal Finance Group
> Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne
> Fortunéo
> Arkéa Capital Managment
> Arkéa Assistance
Key figures:
* 3.6 million customers and members
* 30 specialized subsidiaries in France and around the world
* 9,000 employees including 6,200 in Brittany
* 3rd highest private employer in Brittany
* 1 in 2 inhabitant and 2 out of 3 companies, in Brittany are Crédit Mutuel clients
* 1,600 suppliers
* 500 million euros injected into the local economy in 2014
* Among the top 40 of 6,000 European banks
Major participants in investment and innovation in the Greater West, banking groups in the Brest region are financing innovative projects in other sectors, particularly through investment funds or incubators such as the West Web Valley or Village By CA, which, in turn, create activity, wealth and secure employment in the territory.
In Brest, the interactions between the banking and digital sectors are rich and productive. The territorial presence of major participants such as the Arkéa group or the West Web Valley accelerator have enabled Brest to become a member of the very exclusive thematic network of #FinTech (dynamic French Tech). Crédit Mutuel Arkéa is a pioneer in the reinvention of the banking world to meet a growing expectation of consumers in terms of simplicity, fluidity and efficiency. In 2017, they created their own in-house Fintech, "Max", a new digital platform and aggregator of financial and extra-financial services. The group is injecting 20 million euros into this new internal startup and associates or participates in the capital of many startups and Fintechs that deploy recognized know-how in the fluidity of customer experience, relevant to the response of consumer need and technological performance.
Thanks to surrounding higher education institutions, first and foremost the University of Western Brittany (UBO), the local ecosystem can count on young graduates that are trained in finance or information technology and communications, including the Professional degree in Insurance, Banking, Finance as well as, the Actuarial Master’s degree issued by l’EURIA - one of the five training institutes for actuaries in France. They are reinvesting these skills to modernize their own businesses and offer more and more services to their customers.