BPCE - 2019 Universal Registration Document

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THE MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD

Message from the chairman of the management board

I n 2019, Groupe BPCE demonstrated its ability to expand, innovate and pursue its transformation to serve its customers, cooperative shareholders, and employees. Despite extremely low interest rates, our three core businesses delivered strong performances, thanks to the trust shown by our customers and our employees’ energy. With our cooperative banks, our 14 Banques Populaires and 15 Caisses d’Epargne, and Natixis, we serve all types of customers in France and around the world, providing financing, investment, savings, and insurance solutions to individuals, professionals, businesses, local authorities, and institutional clients. Our Group is constantly adapting, investing and innovating to better serve our customers. Our Digital Inside strategy , which is centered on our customer advisors, was commended with an award from the ratings agency D-Rating. In 2019, our Group also acquired a majority stake in Oney Bank. We also finalized our insurance set-up and launched a project to create a major insurance asset manager within Natixis with the merger of Ostrum and Banque Postale Asset Management. These initiatives are designed to ensure our Group is ready to rise to the challenges that lie ahead.

Our Group also intends to play its role in the energy transition in full by financing the renewable energy sector and by helping all its customers transform their energy mix and their business models. For several years now, our banks have regularly taken concrete initiatives to counter climate change. In September 2019, Groupe BPCE and Natixis signed the Principles for Responsible Banking, undertaking to strategically align their activities with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. All our business lines are working to foster a low carbon society. A recent example is the creation by Natixis in 2019 of the GreenWeighting Factor, a unique capital allocation model that encourages financing solutions with the most positive impact on the environment and climate change, while penalizing those with a negative impact. In 2019, we continued to bolster our financial strength in order to shore up our Group’s financial stability.We understand that, unfortunately, 2020 will be a very difficult year for many of our customers. We firmly believe that the three pillars of our business operations (entrepreneurial spirit , engagement with our customers on a daily basis and collective intelligence) will be considerable sources of strength in supporting our customers and helping them envision the future with confidence under the best possible conditions.

Laurent MIGNON Chairman of the Management Board

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UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2019 | GROUPE BPCE