| Crédit du Nord | |
| Type: | Société Anonyme |
| Industry: | Banking |
| Fate: | Merged with Société Générale |
| Predecessors: | --> |
| Successor: | Société Générale |
| Founders: | --> |
| Areas Served: | --> |
| Owners: | --> |
| Parent: | Société Générale Société |
French: italic=no|Crédit du Nord was a French retail banking network. It consisted of the following banks:
French: italic=no|Crédit du Nord is fully owned by Société Générale. French: italic=no|Crédit du Nord specialises on professionals and small business. It serves about 1.5 million customers in more than 700 stores (2006).
French: italic=no|Crédit du Nord started in Lille in 1848. After buying a number of small banks, it was, in turn, acquired by Paribas between 1972 (35% owned) and 1988 (100% owned) but remained run as a separate network. In the following years several regional French banks were brought in the group while retaining their names. In 1984, it was the fifth-ranking French banking group.[1] It rebranded itself, after working with Creative Business (a public relations company), with a new logo, graphics of its name, the architecture of its branches, and public relations.[1] It changed its logo from an orange cube to a blue star.[1]
In 1997, the whole French: italic=no|Crédit du Nord network with the associated banks was acquired by French: italic=no|[[Société Générale]] from Paribas. Since 2000, French: italic=no|Crédit du Nord is 80% owned by Société Générale and 20% by Dexia.
A full merger with Société Générale was achieved .
The customer-facing SG Crédit du Nord (SG meaning Société Générale) brand[2] is applied to both the former Crédit du Nord, and the Société Générale branches in the North of France.[3]
As with SG Crédit du Nord, the remaining Crédit du Nord banks' identities are also applied as regional brand names :
In 2010, the French government's French: [[Autorité de la concurrence]] (the department in charge of regulating competition) fined eleven banks, including French: italic=no|Crédit du Nord, the sum of €384,900,000 for colluding to charge unjustified fees on check processing, especially for extra fees charged during the transition from paper check transfer to "Exchanges Check-Image" electronic transfer.[4] [5]