Le Crédit Agricole et l'espace régional

The purpose of this article is to study a little-known aspect of the Crédit Agricole — its regional aspect. The surveys published so far are mainly interested in the global aspect or in a geographically limited whole. The writer attempts to demonstrate the importance of rural areas in the gathering of their funds. He demonstrates, with several indicators, that agricultural factors have an importance in the internal distribution of deposits. By using the method of localization quotients he shows a certain geographical concentration of their funds compared with the banking sector. The writer then considers the employment of these funds. The Crédit Agricole's role in farming areas is obvious because it is specified in its statutes which underwent a slight modification in 1971. The geographical concentration is even clearer. The Gini index reaches 0.517. The writer shows that loans seem to increase the richer the agricultural possibilities of the region. Globally this static approach shows that the traditional cleavage between farming France and industrial France still exists. In view of the available statistics the writer cautiously concludes that the Crédit Agricole has little effect on compensation. Finally, he raises the question of regional growth and the discrepancies to which it gives rise. He shows that poor farming areas have developed the Crédit Agricole. A synthetic graph enables this phenomenon to be explained by competition between banks which may well be more active in dynamic agricultural regions. The graph also shows that there are more deposits in town areas. In conclusion the writer considers the future. In 1974 the Crédit Agricole declined in comparison with the banking sector. He asks the question without being able to give an answer for the moment.