Crdit Mutuel, Crdit Agricole, Caisse d’Epargne and Banque Populaire highlight, in their communication, their status as a mutual bank, to better distance themselves from purely capitalist banks, such as BNP Paribas or SG (Socit Generale). Is this difference reflected in customer satisfaction? Yes, but with nuances.
A bank that owns its customers has changed everything. For years, the slogan has been chanted in every Crdit Mutuel advertising campaign. And it hits the mark: the brand has, for a very long time, benefited from the better image in public opinion. It is also the one that dominates the Bank Quality Trophies awarded by MoneyVox, whose 2024 prize list has just been revealed.
Crdit Mutuel, CIC, HSBC… Here are the banks you voted for this year
Mutualists versus capitalists
In support of its slogan, Crdit Mutuel highlights its status as a mutual bank, organized into regional federations, whose capital is held, in the form of shares, by 8.6 million members, invited to general meetings where they have voting rights. A unlisted banktherefore, whose surpluses are not distributed to shareholders, but entirely allocated to the consolidation of equity, she explains on her website. Other retail banking brands – Caisse d’Epargne, Banque Populaire, Crédit Agricole – claim this mutualist and cooperative heritage, to better contrast with the camp opposite, that of commercial and capitalist bankswhich must report to their shareholders: BNP Paribas, Socit Generale, CIC, LCL, La Banque Postale…
Of course, the reality is much more complex. The CIC, for example, belongs to Crdit Mutuel. LCL is a subsidiary of CASA, the head holding company, itself listed on the stock exchange, of the Crdit Agricole group… But the storytelling works. The proof: according to the Opinionway survey (1) carried out for the Bank Quality Trophies, two thirds of customers of mutualist brands (66%) believe that they benefit better services compared to a traditional bank. A percentage which peaks at 58% among Caisse d’Epargne customers, but rises to 77% among those of Crdit Mutuel.
No real bonus for mutualism
Are the customers of mutual banks actually more satisfied than those of commercial banks? To check this, we dove into the results of the Opinionway survey and compared the scores obtained by the different brands in terms of image, quality of service, listening to advisors, value for money, confidence in data confidentiality, alignment with values, financial solidity and attachment to the brand.
Result? Mutualist brands obtain a higher average approval score: 87.3% against 85.5% for commercial banks. This gap, however, is mainly due, on the one hand, to the excellent average score (93%) obtained by Crdit Mutuel and, on the other, to the relatively low (80%) of SG (formerly Socit Generale). Because, for the rest, there does not seem to be any bonus for mutualism. The CIC thus obtains the 2nd best score (91.4%), ahead of Crdit Agricole (88.4%). Above all, commercial banks like LCL (87.6%), HSBC (86.8%) or La Banque Postale (84.25%) are doing better or as well as the Caisse d’Epargne (84.75%) and the Banque Populaire (83%).
Finally, rather than the mutualist character or not of the bank, it is belonging to a banking group rather than another which seems to make the difference. A commercial bank, CIC has achieved a high level of approval, like its parent company Crdit Mutuel. A phenomenon which also reflects on Monabanq, another subsidiary of the group, with excellent scores in online banking.
What is the secret of Crdit Mutuel, the French people’s favorite bank year after year?
(1) OpinionWay survey for MoneyVox carried out from September 22 to October 16, 2023 among a sample of 5,028 banked French people recruited from a representative sample of the adult French population.