Compliance and Ethics

To ensure that both, the Group companies and individual managers/employees comply with applicable banking and financial provisions as well as ethics codes, the Crédit Agricole Group applies clear and strict guidelines. The Compliance department is responsible for ensuring that no unit is exposed to a compliance risk.

We define the risk of legal, administrative or disciplinary sanctions, significant financial losses or reputational damage arising from the non-compliance with legal banking and financial provisions, professional standards, ethics codes or instructions of the managers as a compliance risk. 

To prevent compliance risks such as money laundering, terrorism financing, embargo violation, market abuse, conflicts of interest, data protection and insufficient consulting, the Compliance department defines and implements a clear Group guideline. All the measures forming part of this guideline contribute to strengthening the reputation of the Crédit Agricole Group.

In addition to fending off compliance risks, 

• adherence to these principles conveys a positive image of responsible and customer-orientated business units.
• corresponding behaviour contributes to a stable relationship of trust between the bank and its stakeholders.

THREE STRONG PILLARS OF COMPLIANCE

The Crédit Agricole Group has opted for an internal system of reference texts that, in conjunction with the legal and official requirements, is based on three elements:

• the Ethics Charter of the Crédit Agricole Group as a whole
• the behavioural codes of the Group companies, in which the principles of the Ethics Charter are established
• the FIDES Corpus with regulations for all Group companies, which apply in addition to the specific technical standards of the individual business units. 

THE ETHICS CHARTER OF THE CRÉDIT AGRICOLE GROUP

Here, all the principles and modes of behaviour for the daily business with customers, employees, suppliers, society and all stakeholders are detailed. In 2016, the Group decided to update this charter to bring it into harmony with current values and the growth plan. The objective of the new Ethics Charter is to sharpen the awareness of rules and to promote a sustainable compliance culture. Each Group company has the responsibility to adapt the charter to particular circumstances and to implement it. It can be accompanied by specific topics such as responsible purchasing or the protection of personal data. The components of the Ethics Charter are:

• Confirmation of the universal values for a common basis of the collaboration of all stakeholders
• List of the Group’s commitments: to be a fair, universal, multi-channel bank that offers its customers long-term, individual support
• The implementation of principles: The implementation of ethical behaviour towards customers, society and the employees.

 You will find more information in our English-language videos.

CODE OF CONDUCT OF THE GROUP COMPANIES

The Ethics Charter is implemented Group-wide by means of a code of conduct that is applies in all companies within the framework of compliance risk control. This approach is part of our commitment to act ethically towards all stakeholders of the Group. The general code of conduct also contains a component on fighting corruption that corresponds to the Group’s obligations from the legal resolution Sapin II on the prevention of corruption and on the influence of companies. 

3. FIDES CORPUS

This collection of procedural guidelines sets out the rules for companies, managers and employees of the Group and implements changes in the compliance regulations.

Each Group company, including those in countries with less strict legal provisions, has the responsibility to adapt these regulations to their own organisation according to the applicable provisions.

You will find more information on the topics of compliance and ethics on our international website.

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