French banks call for the cessation of violence that have already targeted several hundred of their branches on the sidelines of the days of mobilisation of “yellow vests” in a forum published Saturday in Le Monde.
“It is time, for all, to condemn the acts committed against the banks,” pleaded the six members of the Executive Committee of the French Banking Federation, the professional organisation that represents all the banks in France. These six members are the bosses of the major French institutions (BPCE, BNP Paribas, Crédit Mutuel, Banque Postale, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale).
“There is an urgent need to put an end to this unleashing of unjustified violence. We demand that conditions are met so that our colleagues and merchants can exercise their profession safely and peacefully for the benefit of their customers, “ they say.
“For just over four months, hundreds of local agencies, essential links in local life, located at the bottom of buildings, at street corners, in city centers have been targeted, vandalized, looted, burned and our bank advisers physically threatened, “ they denounce.
“Proximity service”
According to them, “to attack a bank branch is to attack a local service” . In addition, “the French bank is at the top of the tax contributors in France. for 1,000 euros net income worldwide, the French bank first paid € 644 of compulsory levies in France (excluding social charges), “ they add.
In total, more than 760 banks have been damaged since the start of the “yellow vests”dispute .
On March 16, the fire of an agency of the bank Tarneaud, subsidiary of Crédit du Nord and Societe Generale, located near the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris, had made 11 wounded.
This latest outbreak of violence led the French Banking Federation (FBF), an association representing French banks, and three banking unions – CFDT, Force Ouvrière (FO) and the National Union of Banks (SNB) – to condemn these acts jointly, a rare step.
In France, some 37,000 branches are spread across the territory, and companies in the sector employ more than 360,000 people.
