Crédit Agricole (ACA) Q1 2026 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Net income Group share rose 5.5% year-over-year to €2,097 million, with revenues up 2.8% to €10,000 million, driven by strong business activity, digitalization, and client capture in a turbulent environment.

• Operational efficiency improved, with a cost-to-income ratio down 1.3 percentage points to 60.3% for the Group and 0.6pp for S.A.; ROTE at 13.7%.

• Prudent provisioning increased cost of risk by over 30% year-over-year, mainly due to geopolitical tensions, especially the Middle East conflict.

• CET1 ratio at 11.4% for S.A. and 17.1% for the Group, both above regulatory targets, despite M&A and market effects.

• Strategic expansion included increasing the stake in Banco BPM to 22.9%, agreement to acquire Bank Lviv in Ukraine, and digital expansion with CA Savings in Germany.

Financial highlights

• Group revenues increased 2.8% year-over-year to €10,000 million, with regional banks' revenues up 7.8%.

• Net income for S.A. rose 1.8% to €1,676 million; gross operating income for the Group up 6.2% to €3,967 million.

• Cost of risk for S.A. up 32.2% to €547 million; Group cost of risk up 30.6% to €960 million.

• Earnings per share at €0.52, down 7.9% year-over-year.

• ROTE at 13.7%; cost/income ratio improved to 60.3% for the Group and 56.9% for S.A.

Outlook and guidance

• Continued focus on digitalization, customer acquisition, operational efficiency, and European expansion.

• ACT 2028 plan targets a green-to-brown ratio of 90:10 and €240 billion in sustainable finance by 2028.

• High single-digit net interest income growth guidance for LCL in 2026 reaffirmed; stable or slightly negative NII for CA Italia before recovery.

• Strategic flexibility of 150 basis points in CET1 targeted by 2028, with potential for M&A or exceptional dividend.

• Medium-term plan aims to maintain a TLAC ratio of around 27% of RWAs.