was the architect of the creation of Groupe BPCE, which he subsequently led for nearly a decade. in 2022, Groupe BPCE and Natixis were headquartered respectively on 50 and 30, in Paris, flanked on both ends by office buildings of the
Caisse des dépôts et consignations. In 2008 and early 2009, the French state provided 5 billion euros (3 billion euros in the form of preferred shares and 2 billion in deeply subordinated notes) of financial support to the group formed by Caisse d'Épargne, Banque Populaire and their joint venture Natixis.
François Pérol, a senior aide to President
Nicolas Sarkozy, led the decision-making on the group's restructuring. The entity resulting from the merger of CNCE and BFBP, named BPCE, was formed on 31 July 2009. That same day, Pérol became its CEO while , previously the chairman of Groupe Banque Populaire, became non-executive chairman of BPCE. In 2014, BPCE had
Coface listed through an initial public offering, and subsequently reduced its equity stake. As of March 2021, BPCE retained residual ownership of 12.7 percent of Coface's capital. In July 2016, BPCE announced the purchase of
Fidor Bank, a Fintech challenger bank, operating in the UK and Germany, but in November 2018 considered selling it again. In 2018, BPCE sold its African operations to Morocco's
BCP Group. These included stakes of 68 percent in (BICEC); 71 percent in
Banque Malgache de l'Océan Indien (BMOI); 100 percent in the
Brazzaville-based (BCI); and 60 percent of . In 2018–2019, BPCE fully integrated the former
Crédit Foncier de France's activities into its other operations and terminated the use of the Crédit Foncier brand. In June–July 2021, it acquired all shares of Natixis that it did not previously own, and completed the entity's delisting on 31 July 2021. In July 2024, BPCE (through Caisse d'Epargne Hauts de France) bought Belgian private bank
Nagelmackers. On 21 January 2025, BPCE and the Italian insurer
Generali announced that they have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to create a 50-50 owned joint venture in order combine their asset management operations, which would have around €1.9tn of assets under management and include Natixis Investment Managers and its affiliates (notably
Ostrum Asset Management). In June 2025, BPCE acquired US private equity fund
Lone Star's 75% stake in Portuguese lender
Novo Banco for 6,4 billion euros. On 29 October 2025, BPCE signed an agreement with the Portuguese government to buy the remaining 25% stake of Novo Banco for 1,6 billion euros and therefore acquire 100% of Novobanco's capital. In November 2025, Groupe BPCE reported a CET1 ratio of 16.3% and a total capital ratio of 19.1% as of 30 June, positioning it well above the ECB's 2026 prudential capital thresholds. On 11 December 2025, Generali and BPCE announced the termination of the negotiations aiming at the creation of a joint venture between their asset management operations. ==Structure and operations==