EuroBusiness Media (EBM): Hello and welcome, Dominique Lefebvre. Your first Annual General Meeting as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Crédit Agricole SA takes place on 19 May. Can you say a few words about this major occasion?
Dominique Lefebvre: A general meeting of shareholders is a keynote event that takes place once a year. For us, it really is the highlight of the year because it brings us directly into contact with our shareholders, who can question us on the resolutions we are submitting to them. In all modesty it will be highlight for me, too, because it will be my first AGM. And I will obviously be very happy to chair it. We are also preparing for it by web-posting videos explaining what the main resolutions are about. The AGM also enables shareholders to express themselves and to vote directly via the special website. All in all, the AGM is possibly the most crucial moment in the life of a company as far as its shareholders are concerned.
EBM: How do you view Crédit Agricole SA's results for 2015?
Dominique Lefebvre: I'm satisfied with them because we have reported more than three and a half billion euros of net income, Group share. That is a truly excellent result, to which all our business lines made a very positive contribution, so there is every reason to be pleased and satisfied with it. Let me also say that it was no easy achievement, because our environment was rather complicated. The economic environment was gloomy, as everyone knows, and the regulatory environment was marked by strong pressure from industry supervisors to improve solvency, both for the entire sector and for us, too. So we really had to work hard for those results, which bodes well for the future.
EBM: You have announced a project to modify the Group. What issues does this raise for individual shareholders?
Dominique Lefebvre: Aside from the large budget involved, the project is extremely important for Crédit Agricole. It hugely improves the Group's clarity, simplifies it, and gives it the resources to get to grips with the solvency issue. As a result, Crédit Agricole SA's solvency has improved. As far as shareholders are concerned, the dividend payout has improved: we are going to recommend a dividend per share of 60 centimes, plus an extra 10 per cent for our faithful shareholders, as I call them. The project also gives much greater clarity to our future results, with a persistently high payout. Above all, it has paved the way for us to produce a highly ambitious medium-term plan recently.
EBM: You are Chairman of the Crédit Agricole SA Strategic Committee and CSR. How does the AGM contribute to your CSR policy?
Dominique Lefebvre: The annual general meeting obviously plays a part in this policy, which goes beyond Crédit Agricole SA and encompasses all our entities and subsidiaries. Each time a shareholder digitises the meeting file it allows us– with the support of a non-profit organisation –to plant a tree. So each digitisation project equals one tree. Obviously, we are calling on all our shareholders to follow suit if they have not yet done so. This will eventually mean that the forest will get bigger and that we have contributed, solely through the AGM, to this initiative, not to mention what we are doing in other areas.
EBM: Thank you Dominique Lefebvre, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Crédit Agricole SA.
Dominique Lefebvre: Thank you.
