French post office hopes to enter consumer credit sector

The French post office (La Poste) is believed to have asked the
French finance ministry for permission to extend its range of
financial services to damage insurance and consumer credit. The
ministry is said to be in favour of the insurance proposal, but
opposed to the idea of La Poste’s distributing consumer credit. This
second venture, say observers, would involve a change in the French
post office’s status – and protests from the French banking
federation (FBF). La Poste already sells life insurance policies Sopasssure, the
subsidiary which it set up in conjunction with the French national
savings group Caisses d’Epargne. Sopassure, in turn, owns 36 per
cent of the French insurer CNP Assurances. La Poste’s requests are
part of the re-negotiation of its four-year plan contract with the
French state.
Abstracted from Les Echos