French Post Keeps Financial Services
French Post Keeps Financial Services
October 29, 2001 — David Pearson, Dow Jones: “La Poste, France’s
state-owned post office, has no intention of spinning off its financial
services, the institution’s chairman is quoted as saying Monday. Aside from
its mail delivery activity, La Poste is France’s second- or third-largest
retail banking institution, and can’t function without its financial
services activity, Martin Vial is quoted as saying in an interview in Le
Figaro. French financial institutions have for many years claimed that La
Poste has an unfair competitive advantage because it has cheap access to
lendable deposits. La Poste is negotiating a new five-year plan with the
government that will run through 2006, and Vial said the government has
ruled out opening up La Poste’s capital, noting that a similar move in
Germany has run into serious difficulties.” Dow Jones: “Vial said his aim is
to make La Poste one of the two leading operators in Europe, adding that the
absence of private shareholders hasn’t prevented La Poste from creating
joint ventures in financial services with other companies.”
