PARIS, May 25 (Reuters) – French banks, which are among the lenders most exposed to Greece, have stepped up their efforts on contingency plans for the debt-laden country leaving the euro zone, sources familiar with the situation said.

The heightened preparations by banks, including Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale , come after euro zone sources told Reuters earlier this week that each member of the common currency would have to prepare a plan for a possible Greek exit.

“Every bank has a task force right now looking at the potential consequences of a return to the drachma,” a Paris-based banker said.

At end-Dec 2011, total French cross-border lending to Greece was $44.4 billion, higher than Germany’s $13.4 billion, according to preliminary Bank for International Settlements data tracking consolidated foreign claims of reporting banks on an ultimate risk basis.

“The banks are doing contingency planning concerning a Greek exit, but you can understand why they wouldn’t say so publicly,” a consultant to French banks said.

An investment banker who advises European banks said French lenders had all stepped up their contingency preparations for a Greek pull-out at regulators’ request over the past two weeks.

Such preparations would contradict some French regulatory sources’ contention that a Greek exit remained such a remote possibility that there was no point in drawing up plans for it.

PARIS, May 22 (Reuters) – Credit Agricole has renewed a request for the Greek Central Bank to grant its Emporiki unit access to a liquidity facility, which has been made available to some other local banks, the French bank’s chief executive said on Tuesday.

Jean-Paul Chifflet said the request was part of a wider range of measures aimed at reducing its potential exposure to Greece, including 1.6 billion euros ($2.04 billion) in European Central Bank financing for Emporiki.

Credit Agricole has suffered some 6 billion euros in estimated losses related to Emporiki since it acquired the Greek bank in 2006. Analysts have estimated that the bank could take a hit of 5 to 8 billion euros if Greece left the euro zone.

“We have seriously reiterated our request to take advantage of a direct financing line from the Greek Central Bank, via the ELA (emergency liquidity assistance), the public tool of access to banking liquidity,” Chifflet said in prepared remarks at the bank’s annual shareholder meeting.

Chifflet, faced with angry questions and some catcalls from shareholders, acknowledged that Greece had been a major drag on the bank’s shares, which are down some 30 percent this year. The shares rebounded on Tuesday as part of a wider market bounce.

“The Greek crisis has carried a heavy cost for the Credit Agricole group,” he said, recalling that the bank took 2.4 billion euros in Greece-related charges last year. “We’re taking it step by step. We’re cleaning house. We’re preparing for the future. It won’t happen in a single day.”

Chifflet also became the latest French bank CEO to weigh in on how French Socialist President Francois Hollande should implement his promised regulatory crackdown on the sector, saying he opposed Britain’s Vicker’s reform calling for a separation of retail and investment banking activities.

PARIS, May 15 (Reuters) – France’s biggest banks are likely to cut thousands more jobs, catching up with European rivals as they grapple with a slowing economy, weak capital markets and a looming regulatory clampdown by new Socialist president Francois Hollande.

Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole announced a first wave of layoffs, mainly in investment bank and consumer credit businesses, late last year.

But their cutting has been tentative compared with European peers like UniCredit and ING, and with little sign of improvement in business conditions, analysts think a next round of firings could be deeper and broader, extending into area like retail banking.

Recruitment consultants say the banks had been holding back until after last week’s presidential election for fear of hurting the campaign of pro-business incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.

The victory of Hollande, who has declared “the world of finance” his main adversary, could remove the brakes and may even exacerbate the cutting, depending on the final shape of a regulatory clampdown he is planning for the industry.

“They’ve been waiting until the election … because they didn’t want to alienate their friends in the UMP,” said Stephane Rambosson, managing partner at executive search firm Veni Partners, referring to banks’ relations with Sarkozy’s party. “Most of these guys are pretty close to Sarkozy and they didn’t want to have any negative effect on his election campaign.”

The banks are unlikely to be the only French firms to fire large numbers of workers in the months ahead. Air France-KLM has said it needs to make deep cuts in labour costs, while retailer Carrefour could fire 3,000 to 5,000 French staff, unions have said.

PARIS (Reuters) – Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is prepared for all possible outcomes in Greece, the French bank’s chief executive said, after charges at its business in the debt-laden country helped trigger a steeper-than-expected 75 percent drop in quarterly profit.

Jean-Paul Chifflet told reporters on Friday the bank had teams working to prepare for outcomes including a possible Greek exit from the euro zone even if it still regards that as a less probable scenario.

“We have been working for several quarters on this concern and have formed a close-knit team to examine it,” he said. “We are in any case prepared for all possible outcomes even if we think this (an exit) is the less likely outcome.”

France’s No.3 bank took 940 million euros ($1.22 billion) in Greece-related writedowns, the latest blow from its ill-fated acquisition of its Emporiki business there.

Banks across Europe have taken big hits on assets in Greece as part of an international bailout of the country, and fear there could be more to come as it wavers over whether to implement the austerity drive demanded by its rescuers.

Credit Agricole shares were down 1.9 percent in early trading. Concern about Greece has contributed to a 22 percent drop in the shares so far this year, compared with a flat European sector .

The global bank with roots in rural France said in March Emporiki, a drag on profits since its acquisition in 2006, would have to take new hits on loans to state-controlled entities as part of the wider 130 billion-euro bailout of Greece.

PARIS, May 11 (Reuters) – Credit Agricole is prepared for all possible outcomes in Greece, the French bank’s chief executive said, after charges at its business in the debt-laden country helped trigger a steeper-than-expected 75 percent drop in quarterly profit.

Jean-Paul Chifflet told reporters on Friday the bank had teams working to prepare for outcomes including a possible Greek exit from the euro zone even if it still regards that as a less probable scenario.

“We have been working for several quarters on this concern and have formed a close-knit team to examine it,” he said. “We are in any case prepared for all possible outcomes even if we think this (an exit) is the less likely outcome.”

France’s No.3 bank took 940 million euros ($1.22 billion) in Greece-related writedowns, the latest blow from its ill-fated acquisition of its Emporiki business there.

Banks across Europe have taken big hits on assets in Greece as part of an international bailout of the country, and fear there could be more to come as it wavers over whether to implement the austerity drive demanded by its rescuers.

Credit Agricole shares were down 1.9 percent in early trading. Concern about Greece has contributed to a 22 percent drop in the shares so far this year, compared with a flat European sector.

The global bank with roots in rural France said in March Emporiki, a drag on profits since its acquisition in 2006, would have to take new hits on loans to state-controlled entities as part of the wider 130 billion-euro bailout of Greece.

PARIS, May 9 (Reuters) – French bank Natixis posted a less-than-expected 30 percent drop in quarterly earnings on Wednesday as increasing asset management revenues helped offset writedowns on Greek sovereign bonds and an accounting adjustment on its own debt.

Natixis, an investment bank and asset manager controlled by unlisted cooperative lender BPCE, reported first-quarter net profit excluding exceptional items of 339 million euros ($438.4 million), down from 483 million in the year-ago period.

Analysts at Societe Generale had forecast profit at 315 million euros, while Oddo Securities had forecast 231 million.

Revenue fell 4 percent to 1.669 billion euros, the bank said.

Natixis was rescued from near-collapse during the 2008 financial crisis by a government-backed merger of its retail cooperative parents.

It has since cut a swathe through its balance sheet, getting a head-start on the race to build capital that is sweeping across the industry.

The bank’s core Tier 1 capital ratio under Basel 2.5 methodology – a key measure of its ability to absorb losses - was 10.6 percent at end-March, higher than those of bigger rivals BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.

PARIS (Reuters) – Credit Agricole shares slumped to an all-time low on Monday as Greek elections revived concern about a possible exit from the euro zone and the effect such a move would have on the French bank’s Emporiki unit.

Credit Agricole shares were 6 percent lower at 3.43 euros, bringing their decline so far this year to 21 percent. The shares are now at their lowest level since the bank’s initial public offering in December 2001.

“Credit Agricole, via its Emporiki unit, is inevitably the bank which is being hardest hit after the debt haircut because of worries about the Greek economy beyond its sovereign debt,” said Yohan Salleron, a fund manager at Mandarine Gestion in Paris.

He added that the Greek elections are also reviving wider concerns about the euro zone as a whole, with a negative impact on other banks including BNP Paribas – down 3.2 percent – and Societe Generale – down 2.9 percent. Both were underperforming the euro zone sector, down 1.4 percent.

“With the tensions in Greece, we’re falling back into worries about a contagion effect on the other countries in difficulty,” he added. “The euro zone has to mobilize to show that it’s a case apart.”

Anti-bailout parties made a strong showing in Greece’s Sunday elections, casting doubt on the ability of its conservative leader to forge a coalition protecting the country’s place in the euro zone.

Credit Agricole injected roughly 2 billion euros into Emporiki in early January. Chief Executive Jean-Paul Chifflet said in February the bank was looking to cut its funding exposure to the bank by a variety of means including access to central bank funding.

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) – For Henri Proglio, outspoken chief executive of French utility EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a victory for Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande in Sunday’s presidential poll could prove particularly costly.

Proglio, who earned 1.6 million euros ($2.1 million) last year, could be one of the most prominent victims of the cap on CEO pay at state-controlled companies Hollande advocates, but many more top French executives will also have a wary eye on the forthcoming vote.

The cap is one of several measures – also including a top income tax rate of 75 percent on income above 1 million euros -Hollande says are necessary to restore fairness in France, part of his rebuke to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy for policies allegedly favoring the rich.

Critics call the cap, which could mean the EDF CEO’s pay would slump at least two thirds to no more than about 500,000 euros – assuming no potentially controversial legal challenge – a piece of electioneering that could detract from companies’ ability to attract top talent.

That in turn could tighten a sometimes incestuous circle between the French state and corporations, since it could become much easier to lure executives from government than private sector employees already enjoying generous pay packages.

Already, as of last year, 26 percent of French CEOs had had their first jobs in government, a much higher percentage than in Germany, Britain or the United States, according to a study by executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

“If a country like France imposes an arbitrary (salary) cap, they are almost going back in time in terms of how executives of state-owned companies and enterprises are paid,” said Simon Wong, a partner at shareholder lobby group Governance for Owners.

PARIS, April 25 (Reuters) – The best thing for Credit Agricole may be to put its Cheuvreux brokerage arm out of its misery but that’s not likely, leaving France’s No. 3 bank with limited options for the loss-making unit.

Cheuvreux lost a potential lifeline last month when China’s Citic Securities dropped plans to acquire a 20 percent stake in the unit, instead setting its sights on buying all of the lender’s CLSA Asian brokerage.

With the cooperative bank, which is already cutting more than 2,000 jobs in its investment bank, reluctant to fire or reassign Cheuvreux’s hundreds of employees, a full shutdown is unlikely, a London-based investment banker and various analysts said.

“That may be the best option but I don’t think that’s the option they would go for a number of reasons,” the London-based banker said, referring to possible moves at the end of a business review expected to last two to three months.

More likely would be a management buyout, a partnership or a move to drastically scale back the brokerage, although such moves could still leave the equity sales and research firm limping toward an uncertain future.

“Look at the kind of money that Cheuvreux has been losing in the past few years,” said a London-based banker, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I’m hoping for them that it’s not beyond repair, but I’m not sure.”

Credit Agricole declined to comment on its plans for Cheuvreux, citing a pre-earnings “blackout period”.

PARIS (Reuters) – A weak showing for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in the first round of French elections further spooked investors already on edge about European governments’ ability to manage their debt, pressuring French bonds and stocks on Monday.

Socialist favorite Francois Hollande came out on top with 28.6 percent, making Sarkozy, on 27.2 percent, the first sitting president to find himself behind after the first round.

Marine Le Pen channeled French anger at high unemployment and weak economic growth to take third place with a stronger than expected 17.9 percent, the highest any far right candidate has ever tallied.

French five-year credit default swaps rose 8 basis points to 207, in line with similar moves for other euro zone sovereigns, while the spread between French and German bond yields widened, and the CAC40 stock index slid, although still outperforming euro zone “peripheral” nations Spain and Italy.

Le Pen’s success raised fears about increasing regional support for anti-euro populist politicians who could further damage a fragile consensus on how to manage the debt crisis in the months ahead.

The Dutch government is teetering on the verge of collapse after a right-wing anti-EU party there refused to back big budget cuts, pushing the Netherlands’ AEX stock index down 2.5 percent by 0657 EDT (1057 GMT).

“What’s news is the far right, not just in France but in the Netherlands. This is more worrying,” said Dan Sayag, a fund manager at Amilton Asset Management in Paris.