To support key transitions, the various entities of the Crédit Mutuel Arkéa group develop, manufacture, and distribute innovative solutions tailored to the challenges. One of the objectives of the Medium-Term Strategic Plan is to expand the range of products and services in favor of transitions.
Goal: provide members, clients, businesses, and institutions with investment and financing offers that incorporate social, territorial, and environmental dimensions and/or have a positive impact.
This commitment is particularly formalized within the Climate Strategy, as Crédit Mutuel Arkéa aims to "contribute to the necessary mobilization of savings for the energy and ecological transition by introducing, for each range of financial solutions, green and innovative products integrated into systematic training initiatives for advisors and awareness campaigns for stakeholders.
Development of Innovative Products and Services to Support Transitions
-Empowering clients to invest in environmental and social transitions
The continuous improvement of the ESG approach at Federal Finance Gestion and Schelcher Prince Gestion in 2021 and 2022 included a fund labeling initiative (ISR Label, LuxFlag Label, etc.). Federal Finance Gestion also offers labeled GreenFin funds focused on environmental transition, such as the Federal Global Green Bonds fund launched in 2020, which invests in green bonds. In 2022, Federal Finance Gestion expanded its range with the Autofocus Climate Transition fund.
Objective : facilitate savers' access to sustainable savings products through a robust and validated ESG integration process.
Suravenir also strengthened its unit-linked referencing policy in line with its sustainable finance vision. New unit-linked references are exclusively from management companies signatories of the PRI, and, since January 1, 2022, classified as "article 8" or "article 9" according to the European SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation), favoring labeled supports.
All contracts marketed by Suravenir include at least one ISR, Greenfin, Finansol, Relance, or "Low Carbon" unit-linked (article 9 in terms of disclosure with a greenhouse gas emission reduction objective).
For example, Suravenir contributed to the launch of the Novaxia R unit-linked, referenced in its contracts. This ISR and Finansol-labeled unit-linked allows savers to invest in a residential and responsible real estate fund through their life insurance, addressing housing shortages by transforming obsolete and vacant office buildings into housing.
Structured placements based on Crédit Mutuel Arkéa Green Bonds are also offered to the group's retail clients. In 2022, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa's Trading Room conducted three campaigns of structured placements named "Perspectives Globe" and one Sérénité Globe campaign, products marketed by Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne and Crédit Mutuel du Sud Ouest.
Beyond environmental issues, the group also aims to offer savings solutions that support social and societal transitions.
With the Solidarity Booklet, Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne and Crédit Mutuel du Sud Ouest offer retail clients the opportunity to donate all or part of the interest earned each year to public utility associations chosen from a list of partner organizations in four areas of intervention: social and housing, employment, international solidarity, and the environment. The Solidarity Booklet has received the Fair Finance solidarity label.
In 2022, Federal Finance Gestion launched a specialized professional fund called Federal Solidaire, strengthening its presence in the social and solidarity economy sector. To allow individual investors to access the SSE, Federal Finance Gestion offers three solidarity mutual funds within its employee savings range, now labeled Finansol.
-Financing and supporting client transitions
As a financier of the economy, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has adapted its activities and offers to support the transition of its clients, individuals, professionals, and businesses.
The subsidiary Arkéa Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels, which supports companies, public actors, local institutions, and real estate development professionals in their transition process, lowered the access threshold of its Arkéa Pact loan to two million euros in 2022 to make it accessible to a larger audience. The Arkéa Pact solution includes a bonus if the borrower improves its ESG (environmental, social, and governance) performance according to predetermined criteria.
Within Arkéa Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels, a dedicated Environmental Transition Department (DTE) was created in 2020. It supports SMEs, mid-sized companies, local authorities, institutions, and real estate professionals in their environmental transition efforts. Renewable energies play a significant role in funded projects with mature technologies (photovoltaic, wind, hydraulic, methanization, biomass, district heating, GNV stations, etc.). Energy-efficient building renovation is also an integral part of the activities of this sector.
The Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne and Crédit Mutuel du Sud-Ouest federations offer a range of loans, at preferential rates, to finance greenhouse gas reduction actions for their retail clients. This includes financing equipment for energy savings in primary, secondary, or rental residences (Rénovéo Loan) or financing electric or hybrid vehicles.
The consumer credit subsidiary, Financo, is also positioning itself in the home improvement market, with the majority of its activity generated by financing energy renovation projects. Financo has chosen to create new specific products for electric vehicles. These two new offers, Ma Garantie Véhicule Électrique and Ma Révision Véhicule Électrique, are only eligible for 100% electric vehicles.
Regarding support for the environmental transition of professionals and farmers, the Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne and Crédit Mutuel du Sud-Ouest federations provide dedicated financing solutions for these actors in their green energy production projects, energy-efficient renovation of their buildings to reduce water and electricity consumption, as well as in projects to acquire more ecological vehicles or equipment.
-Enabling institutional investors to target investments contributing to social and environmental transitions
In December 2022, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa issued its first Green Bond for institutional investors (500 million euros over ten years), aiming to finance renewable energy projects in the regions, for which loans are granted by the teams of the Environmental Transition Department of Arkéa Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels.
In addition, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa's Trading Room has implemented an ESG NEU CP program for institutional investors. The first issuances since April 2022 have refinanced "green" housing loans granted by Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne and Crédit Mutuel du Sud-Ouest to their members and clients, following a logic of supporting their environmental transition.
Impact Product Development
The development of impact finance within the Crédit Mutuel Arkéa group is part of a strategy of continuous innovation, anticipating a growing demand from clients and/or institutional investors to contribute to the fair and sustainable transformation of the economy.
This is reflected in an educational approach, notably through the publication of the principles of impact investing according to Crédit Mutuel Arkéa.
After the launch of the first impact fund in 2016, Arkéa Capital launched a second impact fund in May 2022: FPCI We Positive Impact 2.
Dedicated to supporting innovative companies in the fields of energy and climate transition, circular economy, human capital, health, and well-being, this new fund, classified as "Article 9" under the SFDR regulation, aims to raise more than 100 million euros. We Positive Invest 2 stands out for its methodology that places impact at the heart of its strategy. The eligibility and sustainability of an investment case are assessed through a proprietary impact scoring. This impact scoring evaluates the importance of the societal or environmental issue addressed by the company, the intentionality of the management team, the additionality of the solution, and the ability to measure the impact of the company.
