The French banking and financial system and the crisis

Jérôme Creel (1) , Fabien Labondance (1) , Sandrine Levasseur (1)

1 OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po)

The goal of this paper is twofold. First, we describe briefly the French banking sector, presenting its main development since the 1980s and its key characteristics. Second, we analyse the consequences of the financial crisis on the French economy and its banks. In particular, we emphasise the resilience of the French banking model, as no major bankruptcy has occurred in the banking sector since 2008 and private agents have continued to finance their activity without intense credit rationing. However, concerns over the soundness of the French financial system remain unaddressed.

Mots clés: French banking; Bank nationalisation; Financial crisis

Domaines: Economies et finances

Jérôme Creel, Fabien Labondance, Sandrine Levasseur. The French banking and financial system and the crisis. Intereconomics, 2014, 49 (2), pp.64 - 69. ⟨10.1007/s10272-014-0489-8⟩. ⟨hal-03460335⟩