You can tell a lot about an organisation by the person who leads it and how they came to be there. Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Bala\u00ff has been at Cr\u00e9dit Agricole\u2019s corporate and investment bank for over 35 years and has never worked elsewhere. <\/p>\n
He became chief executive of Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB in May 2025 and has held senior leadership positions over the past decade, including deputy CEO of the investment bank and chief risk officer.<\/p>\n
This gives him an intimate knowledge of the institution\u2019s lending activities and the philosophy that underpins its decisions. That expertise is critical as the entire Cr\u00e9dit Agricole group has just published its plan for the next three years \u2014 and there is no better person to explain Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB\u2019s place within that than Bala\u00ff.<\/p>\n
Career history: Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Bala\u00ff<\/p>\n
2025\u2013: Chief executive officer, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB<\/p>\n
2021: Deputy CEO, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB<\/p>\n
2018: Deputy general manager, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB<\/p>\n
2016: Head of risks and permanent control, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB<\/p>\n
2012: Head of debt optimisation and distribution, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB<\/p>\n
1989\u20132009: Various roles at LCL and Calyon (absorbed by Cr\u00e9dit Agricole)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe as the investment bank have a global reach but are conservative with our risk appetite, [which] is very clear and focused on the sectors we are involved in where we want to grow steadily,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Strategy-wise this means the investment bank is concentrated on maintaining a strong position in real assets where Bala\u00ff says Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB is ranked consistently in the \u201ctop five\u201d of league tables. He says it leads telecoms \u201cespecially in Europe\u201d and \u201cglobally\u201d in shipping, aviation and project finance.<\/p>\n
With IB revenues broken down, 35 per cent comes from France, a quarter from the rest of Europe, just over a fifth from the Americas, including Latin America, 16 per cent from Asia-Pacific, and only three per cent from the Middle East.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The three-year action plan<\/p>\n
The wide and deep footprint Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB has across these sectors is the foundation on which the bank wants to generate additional revenue to meet the targets set out in the medium-term plan to 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These include generating \u20ac1bn of sustainable finance revenue which represents an 11 per cent compound annual growth rate from 2024-2028; net bank income in Europe excluding France to be in excess of 6 per cent CAGR on average over the same period; the share of revenue growth outside Europe to be 40 per cent; and the IB\u2019s cost-to-income ratio to stay below 55 per cent by 2028.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
What does the bank want to do more of with its real assets footprint to hit these goals? According to Bala\u00ff, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB wants to use the strength it has in real assets like infrastructure or transportation to generate additional revenue in distinct ways. <\/p>\n
First, it wants to increase the origination and distribution of these real assets through various distribution channels, whether that be primary distribution or co-origination with investors to broaden the investor base, as well as monitoring the bank\u2019s risk weighted assets and balance sheet.<\/p>\n
Second, it wants to look at increasing the secondary sale of some assets on a case-by-case basis, and also to develop relationships with insurers and pension funds which find these assets attractive with a good remuneration and sound risk. <\/p>\n
Some of the latter transactions can be arranged via a project finance structure thanks to the regular and attractive cash flows of these real assets. Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB is keen to find partners on the private debt side where in certain cases it can provide financing to investors that buy the bank\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n
Doing all of the above requires the bank to remain ahead of the game in a world that is extremely competitive and moves ever more quickly with the evolution of artificial intelligence<\/a>. Staying relevant, therefore, requires internal and external innovation working in tandem through time and space.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt the forefront with the marketing team, meaning the originators and senior bankers, we have worked to ensure we are open to new solutions that can be proposed to clients,\u201d Bala\u00ff says.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the product side Cr\u00e9dit Agricole has invested in the cash management aspects of transaction banking across receivables, supply chain and inventory financing.<\/p>\n And at the international banking conference Sibos in November it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese fintech Ant International to help innovate in blockchain-based treasury solutions, cross-bank transfer platform integration and AI-driven FX solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAll of this shows that in terms of business we have a mindset towards innovation to make sure that we can propose answers [to clients],\u201d Bala\u00ff continues. \u00a0<\/p>\n Internally, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB has gathered intelligence on what is happening outside the investment bank to see what can be improved across the institution\u2019s work processes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a small innovation team which is directly reporting to me now, with some team members who are coming from the IT or other business arms so that we have the antennas towards the market to see what is happening, and then what we can apply to our internal processes,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n This group works in close collaboration with the AI team to identify the use cases for technology<\/a> within the investment bank. Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB has found around 90 use cases across the IB with 40 in capital markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor the back office, we\u2019ve set up some AI robots to identify within documentation the financial covenants, and on the capital market side they get support to get guidance on pricing and market trends,\u201d Bala\u00ff says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cr\u00e9dit Agricole CIB has also created a closed chatbot called Alfred that employees can use to ask questions, and intends to develop a co-pilot to help staff get used to AI tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me give you an idea of how this works. Just before the IMF meetings [in mid October] I was in New York and one of the teams showed me how they were using these tools to create a PowerPoint presentation, it was quite impressive,\u201d he adds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But there is more to AI than creating smart presentations, which can be grouped into three broad applications, according to Bala\u00ff: the development of better product offerings, upgrading internal back-office processes, and team members researching clients in a secured environment.<\/p>\n