The offending parties

a) Presentation of the parties BNP Paribas

40. BNP Paribas was formed through the merger of BNP and Paribas in May 2000. In May 2009, it acquired the activities of Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg, thus becoming a leading European player in banking and financial services. It is also the largest French bank in terms of net banking income. In 2009, it generated 45% of its revenue in retail banking.

Société Générale

41. Founded in 1864, Société Générale is the third largest French bank in terms of net banking income. In France, the group relies on two complementary distribution networks, the branches of Société Générale and those of Crédit du Nord, whose entire capital it has owned since 2009. While Société Générale is present in the main banking business lines,

6 Source: GSIT

retail banking represents its most important activity and accounts for some 50% of its net banking income.

Crédit du Nord

42. Crédit du Nord is a federation of seven regional banks, an asset management company and a stock broking firm. Société Générale has held its entire capital since 11 December 2009.

Crédit Agricole

43. Crédit Agricole SA is a société anonyme (limited company) providing the functions of central administrative body of the Crédit Agricole network. It is majority held by Caisses Régionales du Crédit Agricole.

44. The group is active in the sectors of retail banking, in France and at international level, specialised financial services (asset management, insurance, private banking, consumer credit, leasing, factoring) as well as corporate and investment banking.

45. Crédit Agricole SA acquired Crédit Lyonnais on 19 June 2003.

LCL – Crédit Lyonnais

46. On 4 August 2003 Crédit Lyonnais (which became LCL in 2005) became a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole SA, which now holds more than 99% of its capital. Operating under its own name, LCL is a retail bank in France for individuals, professionals and undertakings, with a substantial urban presence. It offers the entire range of banking products and services, asset management and insurance products, and wealth management.

Banques Populaires

47. Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires (‘BFBP’) is a société anonyme (limited company) is a credit institution approved in its capacity as a bank ; it provides the functions of central administrative body of the Banques Populaires network.

48. It is held by the various institutions affiliated to it, namely 18 regional Banques Populaires, CASDEN Banque Populaire and, since the acquisition in 2002 of Crédit Coopératif, Crédit Coopératif Banque Populaire. These institutions have the legal status of cooperative people’s bank sociétés anonymes (limited companies) with variable capital.

49. BFBP, as a central administrative body, carries out within the Banques Populaires Group the tasks of defining strategy and coordinating and driving all the entities over which it exercises administrative, technical and financial control. It implements the group’s financial solidarity, defines the policy and main strategic directions, and negotiates and concludes national and international agreements on behalf of its network.

50. On 31 July 2009 BFBP merged with Caisse Nationale des Caisses d’Épargne to form BPCE (see Autorité de la concurrence’s decision No. 09-DCC-016 of 22 June 2009 on the merger between the Caisse d’Épargne and Banque Populaire groups). On this occasion, the company changed its name to Banques Populaires Participations (‘BP Participations’).

51. The group is active mainly in the banking, property and insurance sectors.

Caisses d’Épargne

52. Caisse Nationale des Caisses d’Épargne (hereinafter ‘CNCE’), a société anonyme (limited company), is a credit institution approved in its capacity as a bank, combining the

functions of central administrative body for the institutions affiliated to it, and network leader.

53. Groupe Caisse d’Épargne is made up of 17 regional Caisses d’Épargne et de Prévoyance (bringing together 287 local savings societies and 3.7 million members), which hold the capital of CNCE. The CNCE’s co-operation and representation body is the Fédération Nationale des Caisses d’Épargne.

54. On 31 July 2009, CNCE merged with Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires to form BPCE. On that occasion, the company changed its name to Caisses d’Épargne Participations (‘CE Participations’).

55. The group is active in retail and commercial banking via the Caisses d’Épargne, Crédit Foncier and Banque Palatine, in property services via a group of companies and in insurance.

HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation)

56. An English-law company whose registered office is in London, HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services groups in the world. Its international network has some 8,000 branches in 88 countries.

57. Since 2000, HSBC France brings together all the banks of the old Crédit Commercial de France (CCF): UBP, Banque Hervet, Banque de Picardie, Banque de Baecque-Beau. Its activity lies in retail banking, wholesale banking, asset management, insurance and private banking.

La Banque Postale

58. La Banque Postale is a banking subsidiary of La Poste, which holds all of its capital. It was formed in accordance with an agreement concluded between La Poste and the State on 13 January 2004, by changing the name of Efiposte, a subsidiary of La Poste that received, transmitted and executed financial orders, and by widening its company objects to banking transactions. From 1 March 2010, La Banque Postale became a société anonyme (limited company).

59. La Poste is active in the fields of mail, parcels and express, and in financial services.

Crédit Mutuel

60. Crédit Mutuel is a French cooperative bank. The Confédération Nationale du Crédit Mutuel, an association founded under the law of 1 July 1901, constitutes the network’s central administrative body.

61. Groupe Crédit Mutuel is made up of 18 regional offices (bringing together 287 regional offices and 1,890 local offices), which hold the capital of the Confédération Nationale du Crédit Mutuel.

62. With its subsidiary, Crédit Industriel et Commercial, Crédit Mutuel is France’s second largest retail bank and is active in banking and insurance.

Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC)

63. Founded in 1859, Crédit Industriel et Commercial (‘CIC’) is a grouping of seven regional banks. Crédit Mutuel, which had acquired 67% of the capital of CIC in 1998, became its sole shareholder in 2001.

The Banque de France (French central bank)

64. The Banque de France (French central bank) was founded in 1800. It is wholly owned by the State pursuant to article L 142-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code. A member of the Eurosystem since 1999, it contributes to the preparation and implementation of the euro zone’s single monetary policy. As a central bank, it is responsible for fluidity in the circulation of money, oversight of markets, supervision of means and systems of payment and more generally financial stability.

65. The Banque de France (French central bank) also carries out banking business of a commercial nature. While it no longer has private customers except for its staff, it remains the bank of the French Treasury and a number of historical operators such as SNCF and France Telecom.

b) Volumes of interbank cheques issued and remitted by the parties

66. The table below shows the number of interbank cheques issued (corresponding to the right-hand column ‘Volumes of cheque images received’) and interbank cheques remitted (corresponding to the left-hand column ‘Volumes of cheque images issued’) of the main banking networks active in France in 2002, the first year of implementation of the dematerialisation of interbank cheque clearing:

2002 Volumes of cheque images issued Volumes of cheque images received

Banque de France (French central bank) 235,985,053 20,934,317

BNP Paribas 445,901,529 264,783,966

Caisses d’Épargne 161,628,457 393,331,319

Crédit Agricole 579,516,106 812,001,861

HSBC France 112,635,320 56,412,533

Groupe CIC 259,852,893 142,683,794

Crédit Lyonnais 336,170,390 239,879,098

Crédit Mutuel 266,295,547 292,030,324

Crédit du Nord 119,674,885 63,167,826

La Poste 110,365,098 558,886,061

NBP 453,307,143 295,561,495

Société Générale 351,829,427 297,479,076

CDC 13,697,884 18,158,782

Banque Palatine/SanPaolo 5,511,367 4,164,763

LeaseGroup 2,950,140 4,696,610

Worms 8,817,684 5,700,721

Crédit Coopératif 23,362,385 17,617,761

Relief 11,001

2002 total 3,487,501,308 3,487,501,308

Source: GSIT, classification mark 4076