As part of the group's maritime cluster launched in 2022, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Crédit Mutuel du Sud-Ouest and Arkéa Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels (ABEI) have become privileged partners of the Association des Ports de Plaisance de l'Atlantique (APPA). These new partners will help the APPA to implement actions to promote the responsible development of the activities of its 53 marinas, whether in economic, environmental or tourism terms.

The Crédit Mutuel Arkéa group has set up a maritime division that brings together all its financing and investment expertise with the aim of providing day-to-day support to all players in the maritime sector as they make the transition to more sustainable economic models. As an aggregator of solutions, the group, which became a company with a mission in 2022, aims to support innovation in favour of a responsible blue water economy. With an active presence in sailing and ocean racing, this partnership with APPA reflects the Group's ambition to strengthen its field of action, this time by supporting marinas on the Atlantic seaboard, particularly in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, one of its historic territories.

Marinas are at the heart of many of the issues affecting the maritime sector. APPA's ambition, through this partnership with Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, is to strengthen its action in favour of the economic development of its marinas, located from the Loire-Atlantique to the Spanish Basque Country, in harmony with the preservation of marine and coastal ecosystems. It is a continuation of the support already offered by the Crédit Mutuel du Sud-Ouest federation and by Arkéa Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels, the subsidiary dedicated to the markets of companies, local public and institutional players and property developers.

The APPA, which generates almost 300 direct jobs and has a mooring capacity of 29,500 rings, buoys and moorings, has drawn up an Environmental Management Charter for all its members. Practical audits on the implementation of this Charter have made it possible to define, for each port, the work or actions to be carried out in order to meet the environmental objectives set: taking into account the preservation of biodiversity; management of dredged sediments; improvement of water quality and sewage networks; waste treatment and emergency decontamination operations; definition of organised mooring zones or management of the coastline.

In addition, since 2018, the association has been working on the implementation of the "Atlantic Environmental Approach", which will apply to all ports in Aquitaine and, eventually, to the entire Atlantic seaboard. This partnership with Crédit Mutuel Arkéa's maritime sector therefore provides additional leverage to create opportunities for sustainable growth, consistent with the responsible exploitation of coastal and marine resources.