In an email sent Wednesday to news agencies that Credit Agricole has made the announcement. The financial institution said its commitments related to the Greek state reached 850 million euros, 600 million for its Greek subsidiary Emporiki. No further comment was made.
The news comes as the crisis Greek climbed a step, revived by the relegation of the country score in the category of speculative investments by the rating agency Standard & Poor's. Many analysts believe that Credit Agricole is one of the banks most exposed to the current crisis in Greece.
More generally, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the French banks in Europe are most concerned with exposure estimated at 75.12 billion dollars (57 billion euros), followed by German banks with exposure estimated at 45 billion dollars (34 billion euros).
French banks are the only institutions to have bought Greek Emporiki to Credit Agricole and Societe Generale for Geniki. The latter has not yet discussed the amount of its commitment.For its part, the general manager of BNP Paribas, Baudouin Prot, said Wednesday that his institution's exposure to Greek banks was "absolutely negligible" fast cash loans.
The sector battered stock market
The markets are in any case a very dim view of the involvement of French banks in a country attacked by the rating agencies. Investors fear that such consequences could lead to default or restructure the debt of Greece.
Results: The bank is breaking titles in stock. The action of the Credit Agricole fell 3.41% Wednesday to the Paris Stock Exchange, after declining more than 7.6% during the session. It lost 9.57% over the five days and 10.60% since the beginning of the year.
Societe Generale has limited the damage on Wednesday with a decline of 0.33% in closing. But the fall is much heavier since January 1 of that Credit Agricole, with a decline of 16.42%.
For its part, BNP Paribas dropped 3.48% on Wednesday at the close of Paris, and 8.80% since the beginning of the year.
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