Governance

Compensation policy

Crédit Agricole S.A.’s compensation policy is consistent with the Group’s Raison d’être and supports its long-term project and strategic Medium-Term Plan. It is anchored by the implementation of principles shared by all employees and its components are determined objectively and transparently.

  • The compensation policy is one of the three founding principles of the Human Project: empowering employees, strengthening customer relations and fostering an atmosphere of trust.

    The components of compensation for employees and executive managers are determined on the basis of precise, clear criteria that reflect competencies required, seniority as well as individual and group performance attained in terms of the organisation’s responsibility for sustainability. All or part of these elements may be offered to each employee, according to their level of responsibility, skills and performance.

    FIXED COMPENSATION

    Offering competitive and attractive compensation.

    System: salary
    People eligible: all employees

    Base salary is commensurate with expertise and level of responsibility and is competitive with local market conditions for each business line.

    ANNUAL VARIABLE COMPENSATION

    Linking the interests of employees with those of the Group and shareholders, as part of the deployment of the Medium-Term Plan.

    System: variable compensation
    People eligible: all employees

    Variable compensation is awarded on the basis of the achievement of individual targets and the results of each entity, in compliance with regulatory principles. Variable compensation is directly related to the annual performance and implementation of the three pillars of the Medium-Term Plan: the Customer, People and Societal Projects. Unsatisfactory performance, failure to comply with rules and procedures or at-risk behaviour have a direct impact on variable compensation.

    LONG-TERM VARIABLE COMPENSATION

    Rewarding the long-term, collective performance of the Group and its entities.

    System: long-term incentive plan
    People eligible: executive managers

    This component of variable compensation, which is unifying, motivating and encourages loyalty, completes the annual variable compensation mechanism. It is characterised by annual variable compensation. It consists of compensation in shares and/or cash indexed to the share price, based on performance.

    COLLECTIVE VARIABLE COMPENSATION

    Linking all employees to the Group’s results to enable the collective sharing of the value created.

    System: profit sharing and incentive plans
    People eligible: all employees in France

    System: profit sharing
    People eligible: all employees of certain international entities

    System: employee shareholding
    People eligible: all employees except for in a few countries

    PERIPHERAL COMPENSATION

    Covering/supplementing healthcare reimbursements in the event of employee illness.

    Protecting employees against life’s uncertainties.

    System: life and health insurance plans
    People eligible: all employees in France

    System: supplementary pension scheme
    People eligible: executive managers

    In addition to direct compensation, benefits in the form of pension plans, health and life insurance have been set up within the framework of group plans specific to each entity.

    Equality at work index 84/100
    is the minimum score obtained by all entities this year

    The positive ratings given in the publication of the gender equality at work index established by the French government assesses the effectiveness of the actions taken in the Group with regard to equal pay for women and men. This year, all entities achieved a score of at least 84/100* and more than half of them improved their index score. The Crédit Agricole S.A. economic and social entity achieved a score of 97/100, up six points from 2022.
    *Entities with a score below 84/100 represent less than 2% of the workforce.

  • The Chairman of the Board of Directors receives only fixed compensation.

    Executive corporate officers’ annual compensation includes an immediate portion and a deferred portion awarded in the form of instruments that vest subject to the fulfilment of performance and employment conditions. It is broken down as follows:

    (in k€)

    Philippe Brassac
    Chief Executive Officer

    • Fixed compensation: 1,100
    • Non-deferred variable compensation: 528
    • Deferred variable compensation: 792
    • Long-term variable compensation: 174.7

    Olivier Gavalda
    Deputy Chief Executive Officer

    • Fixed compensation: 700
    • Non-deferred variable compensation: 262.9
    • Deferred variable compensation: 394.4
    • Long-term variable compensation: 111.2

    Jérôme Grivet
    Deputy Chief Executive Officer

    • Fixed compensation: 700
    • Non-deferred variable compensation: 274.8
    • Deferred variable compensation: 412.2
    • Long-term variable compensation: 111.2

    Xavier Musca
    Deputy Chief Executive Officer

    • Fixed compensation: 1,000
    • Non-deferred variable compensation: 397.2
    • Deferred variable compensation: 595.7
    • Long-term variable compensation: 158.8
    • The equity ratio estimated for 2023 between the level of compensation of each Executive Corporate Officer and the average compensation of the employees of Crédit Agricole S.A. in France was:
      • 8 for Dominique Lefebvre, Chairman of the Board of Directors
      • 34 for Philippe Brassac, Chief Executive Officer
      • 19 for Olivier Gavalda, Deputy Chief Executive Officer
      • 20 for Jérôme Grivet, Deputy Chief Executive Officer
      • 28 for Xavier Musca, Deputy Chief Executive Officer

  • The compensation policy for executive corporate officers is designed primarily to recognise long-term performance and the effective implementation of the Group’s strategic plan. In line with the company’s social focus, this policy goes beyond short-term business results to take sustainable performance aspects into account.

    Each year, the compensation policy is reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors, acting on the Compensation Committee’s recommendations, and its principles alongside the amounts awarded and paid for the year ended are presented annually to shareholders for approval at the General Meeting.

    For 2023, the variable compensation policy for executive corporate officers was aligned with the “Ambitions 2025” Medium-Term Plan, which reaffirms Crédit Agricole S.A.’s commitment to integrating Corporate social Responsibility (CSR) into its overall strategy. As a result, the weighting of CSR performance criteria has been increased in the allocation of annual variable compensation. These criteria have also been reviewed for the vesting of long-term variable compensation in order to better integrate the Group’s commitments to contribute to carbon neutrality by 2050, as well as those in favour of diversity.

    These new measures, which apply to executive corporate officers as of 2023, will be gradually rolled out to the Group’s other executives.

  • Annual variable compensation

    To ensure complete independence in the performance of his position, the Chairman of the Board of Directors does not receive any variable compensation.

    The Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officers are eligible for individual variable compensation with a target set at 100% and 80%, respectively, of their fixed compensation, capped at 120% if the target is exceeded. The amount awarded for a given financial year is contingent on performance.

    This is based on criteria defined by the Board of Directors and described in the table below. Since 2023, CSR criteria now represent 20% of the annual variable compensation of the four corporate officers. The quantitative component of these criteria has also been boosted to improve the clarity of both the commitments and performance measurement.

    The financial criteria for 60% break down as follows:

    Crédit Agricole S.A. scope, covering Net income Group share, cost/income ratio excl. SRF and RoTE:

    • Philippe Brassac: 60%
    • Olivier Gavalda: 30%
    • Jérôme Grivet: 60%
    • Xavier Musca: 30%

    Large Customers scope, covering Net income Group share, cost/income ratio excl. SRF, RWA (equally weighted):

    • Philippe Brassac: not applicable
    • Olivier Gavalda: not applicable
    • Jérôme Grivet: not applicable
    • Xavier Musca: 30%

    Universal Banking scope, covering Net income Group share, cost/income ratio excl. SRF, RWA (equally weighted):

    • Philippe Brassac: not applicable
    • Olivier Gavalda: 30%
    • Jérôme Grivet: not applicable
    • Xavier Musca: not applicable

    The non-financial criteria for 40% break down as follows:

    CSR for 20%, covering environmental CSR and societal CSR respectively:

    • Philippe Brassac: 10% and 10%
    • Olivier Gavalda: 10% and 10%
    • Jérôme Grivet: 10% and 10%
    • Xavier Musca: 10% and 10%

    Other non-financial criteria for 20%, covering Customer Project, technological and digital transformation, and risk and compliance management respectively:

    • Philippe Brassac: 8%; 5% and 7%
    • Olivier Gavalda: 7%; 7% and 6%
    • Jérôme Grivet: 5%; 5% and 10%
    • Xavier Musca: 5%; 5% and 10%

    Long-term variable compensation

    Executive Corporate Officers qualify for the free allocation of performance shares, within the framework of a budget strictly limited to 0.1% of share capital, in order to strengthen their contribution to the creation of long-term value of Crédit Agricole S.A.

    The number of shares awarded each year by the Board of Directors is capped at 20% of annual fixed compensation. The vesting of these shares will be conditioned in particular by the achievement of three demanding economic, stock market, environmental and societal performance conditions, assessed over a period of five years. The vesting will be followed by a one-year lock-up period. The Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive Officers are required to retain 30% of the shares vested each year while in office.

    In addition, from 2023 onwards, with a view to aligning interests more closely with shareholders, the maximum overall achievement rate for the three combined performance conditions has been raised to 120% (compared with 100% in previous years), thus creating the possibility of outperformance.