NATIXIS - 2018 Registration document and annual financial report

1 PRESENTATION OF NATIXIS Natixis’ businesses

Natixis Life, a Luxembourg-based life insurance company that a offers life insurance and investment solutions to high net-worth customers; BPCE Prévoyance, a non-life insurance company whose a operations include insurance coverage for accidents, sickness and different forms of financial loss; BPCE IARD, a non-life insurance company that offers a full a range of property and casualty insurance products (auto insurance, multi-risk home insurance and legal and multi-risk coverage for professionals). In geographic terms, most of the Insurance division’s activity is concentrated in France and handled by companies established in France. However, the Personal Insurance business line owns a Luxembourg-based entity that focuses on life insurance products for Wealth Management clients. This entity is a client of the BPCE networks and non-Group entities in various European Union countries. It also owns an entity in Lebanon through an equity interest in a subsidiary in partnership with a local private bank. The Insurance division was created in 2014, in line with Groupe BPCE’s strategic ambition to become a fully-fledged bancassurance player primarily serving clients from the two main banking networks of Groupe BPCE: the Banque Populaire banks and Caisses d’Epargne savings banks. This strategic drive resulted in the following structure-changing transactions: in March 2014, Natixis Assurances acquired 60% of BPCE a Assurances, a non-life insurance company created to serve customers of the Caisse d’Epargne network. The acquisition enabled the Group to set up the Non-life Insurance business, in conjunction with BPCE IARD, to serve Banques Populaires customers. This was followed by the purchase of a 40% stake in BPCE Assurances’s capital (hitherto owned by MACIF and MAIF) on November 16, 2017. As a result of this transaction, Natixis Assurance became BCPE Assurances’s sole shareholder; in the first quarter of 2015, Groupe BPCE and CNP Assurances a finalized the renegotiation of their partnership. Accordingly, the distribution of life insurance policies for retirement savings and personal protection insurance, handled by the Personal Insurance business line, was extended to the Caisse d’Epargne network, with effect from January 1, 2016. Natixis’ Insurance division, through its different operational entities, now offers a comprehensive range of life and non-life insurance policies, with the Banque Populaire banks and Caisses d’Epargne being the main contributors to the business. The division's New Dimension Plan for 2018-2020, which was presented at the end of 2017, aims to cement Natixis Assurances’s position as a front-running insurer in France, by delivering a differentiated customer experience and top-flight operating performances. The new plan will span the property & casualty arm’s entire value chain, by creating a single management platform run by Natixis Assurances to better serve Banques Populaires and the Caisses d’Epargne (the Innove#2020 project). Over the last few years, the Insurance division has been operating in unprecedented market conditions: macroeconomic and financial shifts have resulted in the implementation of monetary policies with significant impacts on life insurance policies for retirement savings, and, to a lesser extent, the non-life insurance business. In particular, historically low interest rates, which are the main source of revenue for life insurance The Insurance division’s operating environment

players, have led to significant changes in product and investment strategies: life insurance products have been aimed at improving the a sharing of outcomes among the various stakeholders in order to guarantee the right balance between sustainable business competitiveness and solvency protection in the medium term. Similarly, the Personal Insurance business line has responded to the sharp decrease of market interest rates by lowering the revaluations incorporated into its policies. This has allowed it to accumulate a significant profit-sharing reserve representing over a year of revalued outstandings at the end of 2018. This reserve could be used as a significant cushion to supplement “policy” revaluations over the next eight years; a variety of commercial initiatives targeted at end-customers a and the business provider networks, to increase the share of inflows and assets invested in unit-linked products; the steady decline in returns from traditional fixed-rate assets a has led to a number of changes in asset management policy: the diversification of fixed-income investments towards j private debt, the gradual reallocation of the equity compartment to shares j generating recurrent dividends, taking advantage of entry points at end-2018, developing a compartment for unlisted investments in j private equity and real estate. In addition, the insurance business is monitored via prudential and regulatory oversight, a process that has seen significant changes: the Solvency II Directive came into effect on January 1, 2016, a resulting in changes in organizational structure, operating procedures and the assessment of minimum solvency as required for developed activities. In the current context of historically low interest rates, this change constitutes a major challenge. The division prepared for this challenge by modifying its governance and risk management processes; similarly, 2018 saw new regulations come into force in the a insurance sector (PRIIPS, IDD, GDPR, easier termination of payment protection insurance), all of which are likely to lead to changes to products and operating procedures; finally, the upcoming entry into force of IFRS 9 and IFRS 17 will a oblige the Insurance division to adapt its financial and technical management. A project to achieve this was launched in 2017. On November 14, 2018, the International Accounting Standards Board voted in favor of postponing the entry into force of IFRS 9 and IFRS 17 from 2021 until 2022. IFRS 17 will be submitted for public consultation in 2019. Natixis Assurances is pushing ahead with efforts in preparation for the application of this standard. Finally, the rapid development of digital technology and its application in the development of new methods of distribution and customer interaction is a source of opportunities that the Insurance division is closely monitoring. Accordingly, it has pursued a policy aimed at: digitizing management processes: the business line intends to a continue pursuing the digitization and automation of low-value-added processes in order to become one of the most efficient players in terms of management costs relative to assets under management; In personal insurance, the division rolled out a new multi-site, multi-banner customer relationship model in 2018, with identical organization, tools and customer relations processes for both the Banque Populaire banks and Caisses d'Epargne A platform for processing inheritance claims was also set up;

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Natixis Registration Document 2018