Banque Transatlantique
Encyclopedia
Banque Transatlantique is one of France's
oldest private bank
s. It is unusual among private banks in having a strong focus on serving expatriates, diplomats and international civil servants apart from being the wealth management
arm of its parent group. The bank's head office is in Paris
, and it has subsidiaries in Brussels
and Luxembourg
, a branch in London
, and representative offices in Singapore
and Washington, DC. It is a subsidiary of the CIC
- Crédit Mutuel group, France's fourth largest banking group.
Founded by Eugene Pereire in 1881. Today, Banque Transatlantique seeks to develop and expand its operations concerning four main areas of client services:
International Asset Management: Transat Online enables clients to bank remotely. Transat Expat Santé provides health insurance coverage abroad. Lastly, Cap Transat provides a set of tailored banking and investment products to meet the needs of an internationally managed account.
French Nationals Living Abroad: Services for expatriates remains one of the bank's core products. For instance, Transat-Service provides room reservations, vacation planning, social integration, etc.
Private Wealth Management: The bank offers expertise in private wealth management, and since 2002, has operated a subsidiary Banque Transatlantique Luxembourg. It has also created new mutual fund products and offers life insurance products.
Stock Option Plans Management: In 200o the bank created StockPlan, which helps firms manage employee stock option plans. Today, StockPlan manages stock options plans of 30 groups representing over 130 companies and almost 25,000 employees worldwide.
Business Market: The bank offers company HR departments services tailored to expatriates. The bank helps organize the transfer of salaries to anywhere in the world and can organize bank accounts both with France and abroad. The bank created a department in 2006 solely dedicated to company senior executives.
, founded Banque Transatlantique in 1881; it had 609 shareholders and total assets in excess of 50,000,000 francs. He created the bank in response to the French government’s decision to cease state funding of transatlantic ventures. Thus, Pereire formed a private bank to complement his main management stake in the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
, which he and his brothers had founded in 1855 as the Compagnie Générale Maritime.
Pereire envisioned a “Saint-Simonian banking philosophy” for the bank: its mission, first and foremost, was the economic and industrial development of nations. The bank began financing enterprises both within France and abroad. The bank’s largest undertakings began at the turn of the century when the new gas and electricity industries created a demand for distribution. Through the creation of energy transporting companies in Tunisia in 1884 and Morocco in 1911, the bank was able to finance the provision of gas and electricity to the capital and many surrounding regions in France. The bank also encouraged foreign investment by financing many public works projects that are still visible today, most notably in Casablanca, and by organizing a parliamentary visit to Tunisia in 1883. In 1884, Banque Transatlantique founded the Banque de Tunisie
on the base of a pre-existing agency.
The bank continued to expand abroad, not without some drama. In 1902, eruption of Mount Pelée
in Martinique
was destroyed its branch in Saint-Pierre, Martinique
. In 1911, the bank founded Banque Commerciale du Maroc
.
Despite the Great Depression, the bank was able to make some strategic moves. A key acquisition, in 1933, was the purchase of Dosseur et Cie. This bank specialized in serving the banking needs of French diplomats at the Quai d’Orsay, and would in time provide the bank with a new direction. For many years thereafter the bank maintained an office in the Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay
in Paris
and branches, even if only a room in a consulate, in every outpost where the diplomats and officers, doctors and schoolmasters who represented France overseas, had personal business that needed attending to. The bank also helped found the Antwerp Diamond Bank
in 1934.
In step with modernization, Banque Transatlantique sponsored several grand expositions highlighting the technological innovations of the age such as The International Exposition of Science and Technology in Modern Life (1937). Though The Great Depression spared none, the bank’s clients included, Banque Transatlantique managed to stay afloat and, furthermore, experience significant growth.
In 1941, CIC
acquired control of BT, together with two subsidiaries, Banque de Tunisie
and Banque Commerciale du Maroc
. This occurred in response to the German Occupation in France requiring the liquidation of Jewish firms. Instead of liquidating, the bank allowed the CIC to take a majority stake in the bank, and after the war, welcomed back its former Jewish employees who went abroad.
However, integrating into the CIC meant that the bank had to abandon its status as a commercial bank and could no longer operate branches that would compete with CIC's branches. the bank therefore concentrated on two lines of business. On the one hand it became a merchant bank serving financial, commercial, and industrial companies. On the other hand, it turned its attention to individual clients. The Bank became known as "the Diplomat’s Bank" as it focused on providing services to French expatriates and foreign nationals living in France.
- expanding its clientele to include teachers, industry consultants, technicians, expatriated business executives, etc…
- The creation of a specialized department providing services such as wealth management and French and foreign real estate investment.
B) The opening of capital to foreign banks
After 1968 Banque Transatlantique was permitted to play a more important role on the international stage. Philipe Aymard opened the bank’s capital to foreign investors wishing to establish a presence in Paris but not necessarily a subsidiary or branch. The market responded with vigor, and a number of international banks bought stakes in Banque Transatlantique, most notably the Bank of Montreal in 1968 took a 5% holding; four Nordic banks currently hold a 10% stake and a “revolving” Administrator representing them in council; and the Credito Italiano which was sold a 20% holding in 1974 by the CIC itself.
(1973) and the Iranian Revolution
(1979) were beginning to abate as the organization of international monetary policy began to shift because of the dollar’s decline as a concerted effort on the parts of central banks in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, and Great Britain in addition to the decline in the price of crude oil because oil producing countries ceased augmenting the price.
It was within this context that France decided it needed to address its relatively pitiful level of investment and encourage banks to shift towards providing services. In response and to better meet the needs of a growing clientele, Banque Transatlantique established a Representative office in London in 1986 where a very large French community is present to this day and created the Helder Immobilier company in 1989 so that its internationally mobile clients could manage, research, buy, and sell real estate across the world, in addition to the bank’s original services like cash flow and database management for enterprises. Banque Transatlantique also began focusing more on its individual clients through offering personalized retirement products and tailored insurance solutions.
By the end of the 1980s, Banque Transatlantique had expanded its representative offices to include Singapore, Sydney, Washington D.C., as well as a desk on the island of Jersey. It had also created and sustained several new investment institutions such as GTI (Cash Management Services for Companies); Banque Transatlantique Monaco specializing in providing investment services for French nationals living in Africa and throughout the Mediterranean; and four investment companies (Short Term Arbitrage, Options and Performance, First Arbitrage, and Secure Arbitrage).
, Banque Transatlantique de Monaco. In 1995 it established its Washington, DC representative office and a new German department. Two years later it opened an Australian desk; two years after that it opened a representative office in Sydney
, Australia
that it later closed.
In alliance with Credito Italiano
, the bank offered a wide range of services and benefits to both businesses and individual clients. In addition, the bank further focused on expatriates by promoting its relationship with the Alliance française
and supporting a host of cultural activities from seminars to the opening of an International French School in Philadelphia.
The difficulties the 1990s presented for Banque Transatlantique largely involved issues of wealth management. This was one factor behind the bank setting up a trust company on the island of Jersey
. A severe drop in housing prices caused the bank significant losses in its subsidiary UFICO, which became Transat Finance in 1997. Still, profitability in other areas, agreements between the banks and a network of English real estate companies, and the bank's partnership with the agency AICI allowed the bank to stay solvent.
Switching over to the Euro in 1998-1999 cost the bank an estimated 15.2 million francs. The bank worked with its clients to help them through this enormous and unprecedented transition by providing software to prevent credit risks imposed by both the currency switch and the millennium bug as well as by offering new information systems based in euros.
Then, in 2008, after 25 years in London
, Banque Transatlantique upgraded its representative office there to a branch. The next year, saw the bank establishing a Financial Advisory company in Singapore
and a representative office in New York
.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
oldest private bank
Private bank
Private banks are banks that are not incorporated. A private bank is owned by either an individual or a general partner with limited partner...
s. It is unusual among private banks in having a strong focus on serving expatriates, diplomats and international civil servants apart from being the wealth management
Wealth management
Wealth management is an investment advisory discipline that incorporates financial planning, investment portfolio management and a number of aggregated financial services...
arm of its parent group. The bank's head office is in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and it has subsidiaries in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
and Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, a branch in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and representative offices in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Washington, DC. It is a subsidiary of the CIC
Crédit Industriel et Commercial
Crédit Industriel et Commercial is a financial services group in France, founded in 1859 With its parent-company, Crédit Mutuel it is the fourth largest bank in the country...
- Crédit Mutuel group, France's fourth largest banking group.
Founded by Eugene Pereire in 1881. Today, Banque Transatlantique seeks to develop and expand its operations concerning four main areas of client services:
International Asset Management: Transat Online enables clients to bank remotely. Transat Expat Santé provides health insurance coverage abroad. Lastly, Cap Transat provides a set of tailored banking and investment products to meet the needs of an internationally managed account.
French Nationals Living Abroad: Services for expatriates remains one of the bank's core products. For instance, Transat-Service provides room reservations, vacation planning, social integration, etc.
Private Wealth Management: The bank offers expertise in private wealth management, and since 2002, has operated a subsidiary Banque Transatlantique Luxembourg. It has also created new mutual fund products and offers life insurance products.
Stock Option Plans Management: In 200o the bank created StockPlan, which helps firms manage employee stock option plans. Today, StockPlan manages stock options plans of 30 groups representing over 130 companies and almost 25,000 employees worldwide.
Business Market: The bank offers company HR departments services tailored to expatriates. The bank helps organize the transfer of salaries to anywhere in the world and can organize bank accounts both with France and abroad. The bank created a department in 2006 solely dedicated to company senior executives.
Founding and Development
Eugene Pereire, son of Isaac PéreirePéreire brothers
The Péreire brothers were prominent 19th century financiers in Paris, France who were rivals of the Rothschilds. Like the Rothschilds, they were Jews, but unlike them the Péreire brothers were Sephardi Jews of Portuguese origin....
, founded Banque Transatlantique in 1881; it had 609 shareholders and total assets in excess of 50,000,000 francs. He created the bank in response to the French government’s decision to cease state funding of transatlantic ventures. Thus, Pereire formed a private bank to complement his main management stake in the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique , typically known overseas as the French Line, was a shipping company established during 1861 as an attempt to revive the French merchant marine, the poor state of which was indicated during the Crimean War of 1856...
, which he and his brothers had founded in 1855 as the Compagnie Générale Maritime.
Pereire envisioned a “Saint-Simonian banking philosophy” for the bank: its mission, first and foremost, was the economic and industrial development of nations. The bank began financing enterprises both within France and abroad. The bank’s largest undertakings began at the turn of the century when the new gas and electricity industries created a demand for distribution. Through the creation of energy transporting companies in Tunisia in 1884 and Morocco in 1911, the bank was able to finance the provision of gas and electricity to the capital and many surrounding regions in France. The bank also encouraged foreign investment by financing many public works projects that are still visible today, most notably in Casablanca, and by organizing a parliamentary visit to Tunisia in 1883. In 1884, Banque Transatlantique founded the Banque de Tunisie
Banque de Tunisie
Banque de Tunisie is a bank in Tunisia. It has been listed in the Bourse de Tunis since 1990.-Overview:The Banque de Tunisie was created in 1884. It is headquartered in Tunis, Tunisia. The French bank Crédit Industriel et Commercial owns 20% of its shares.Belhassen Trabelsi, the brother of Leïla...
on the base of a pre-existing agency.
The bank continued to expand abroad, not without some drama. In 1902, eruption of Mount Pelée
Mount Pelée
Mount Pelée is an active volcano at the northern end of the island and French overseas department of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava....
in Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
was destroyed its branch in Saint-Pierre, Martinique
Saint-Pierre, Martinique
Saint-Pierre is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre in 1902 by a volcanic eruption, it was the most important city of Martinique culturally and economically, being known...
. In 1911, the bank founded Banque Commerciale du Maroc
Banque Commerciale du Maroc
Banque Commerciale du Maroc or B.C.M. was a bank founded in 1911 in Morocco. Deutsche Bank and le Crédit Industriel et Commercial were among the shareholders of B.C.M.- Overview :In 1999, the capital of B.C.M...
.
World War I, the Great Depression and World War II
Conscription during World War I halved the bank's staff. Still, by the end of the war it had developed new investment strategies and positions in Africa through the African Commerce Bank. During the 1920s, Banque Transatlantique experienced a period of expansion with the creation of a real estate company in the Opera quarter and the acquisition of Union Financiere.Despite the Great Depression, the bank was able to make some strategic moves. A key acquisition, in 1933, was the purchase of Dosseur et Cie. This bank specialized in serving the banking needs of French diplomats at the Quai d’Orsay, and would in time provide the bank with a new direction. For many years thereafter the bank maintained an office in the Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay
Quai d'Orsay
The Quai d'Orsay is a quai in the VIIe arrondissement of Paris, part of the left bank of the Seine, and the name of the street along it. The Quai becomes the Quai Anatole France east of the Palais Bourbon, and the Quai de Branly west of the Pont de l'Alma.The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs is...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and branches, even if only a room in a consulate, in every outpost where the diplomats and officers, doctors and schoolmasters who represented France overseas, had personal business that needed attending to. The bank also helped found the Antwerp Diamond Bank
Antwerp Diamond Bank
The Antwerp Diamond Bank is a small, 75-year-old bank that specializes exclusively in serving the diamond and the diamond jewelry sector. It is the second largest diamond bank in the world, after ABN AMRO's International Diamond and Jewelry Group...
in 1934.
In step with modernization, Banque Transatlantique sponsored several grand expositions highlighting the technological innovations of the age such as The International Exposition of Science and Technology in Modern Life (1937). Though The Great Depression spared none, the bank’s clients included, Banque Transatlantique managed to stay afloat and, furthermore, experience significant growth.
In 1941, CIC
Crédit Industriel et Commercial
Crédit Industriel et Commercial is a financial services group in France, founded in 1859 With its parent-company, Crédit Mutuel it is the fourth largest bank in the country...
acquired control of BT, together with two subsidiaries, Banque de Tunisie
Banque de Tunisie
Banque de Tunisie is a bank in Tunisia. It has been listed in the Bourse de Tunis since 1990.-Overview:The Banque de Tunisie was created in 1884. It is headquartered in Tunis, Tunisia. The French bank Crédit Industriel et Commercial owns 20% of its shares.Belhassen Trabelsi, the brother of Leïla...
and Banque Commerciale du Maroc
Banque Commerciale du Maroc
Banque Commerciale du Maroc or B.C.M. was a bank founded in 1911 in Morocco. Deutsche Bank and le Crédit Industriel et Commercial were among the shareholders of B.C.M.- Overview :In 1999, the capital of B.C.M...
. This occurred in response to the German Occupation in France requiring the liquidation of Jewish firms. Instead of liquidating, the bank allowed the CIC to take a majority stake in the bank, and after the war, welcomed back its former Jewish employees who went abroad.
However, integrating into the CIC meant that the bank had to abandon its status as a commercial bank and could no longer operate branches that would compete with CIC's branches. the bank therefore concentrated on two lines of business. On the one hand it became a merchant bank serving financial, commercial, and industrial companies. On the other hand, it turned its attention to individual clients. The Bank became known as "the Diplomat’s Bank" as it focused on providing services to French expatriates and foreign nationals living in France.
The '50s to the '80s: new directions
While the CIC was establishing branches in Paris and the surrounding regions, Banque Transatlantique was turning its attention abroad, striving to improve its services to diplomats and foreign nationals by:- expanding its clientele to include teachers, industry consultants, technicians, expatriated business executives, etc…
- The creation of a specialized department providing services such as wealth management and French and foreign real estate investment.
B) The opening of capital to foreign banks
After 1968 Banque Transatlantique was permitted to play a more important role on the international stage. Philipe Aymard opened the bank’s capital to foreign investors wishing to establish a presence in Paris but not necessarily a subsidiary or branch. The market responded with vigor, and a number of international banks bought stakes in Banque Transatlantique, most notably the Bank of Montreal in 1968 took a 5% holding; four Nordic banks currently hold a 10% stake and a “revolving” Administrator representing them in council; and the Credito Italiano which was sold a 20% holding in 1974 by the CIC itself.
The 80s: Specialization
Banque Transatlantique’s relationships with its clients evolved dramatically over this time period to better address their needs in an increasingly complicated and globalized financial system. The crises resulting from the Yom Kippur WarYom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
(1973) and the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
(1979) were beginning to abate as the organization of international monetary policy began to shift because of the dollar’s decline as a concerted effort on the parts of central banks in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, and Great Britain in addition to the decline in the price of crude oil because oil producing countries ceased augmenting the price.
It was within this context that France decided it needed to address its relatively pitiful level of investment and encourage banks to shift towards providing services. In response and to better meet the needs of a growing clientele, Banque Transatlantique established a Representative office in London in 1986 where a very large French community is present to this day and created the Helder Immobilier company in 1989 so that its internationally mobile clients could manage, research, buy, and sell real estate across the world, in addition to the bank’s original services like cash flow and database management for enterprises. Banque Transatlantique also began focusing more on its individual clients through offering personalized retirement products and tailored insurance solutions.
By the end of the 1980s, Banque Transatlantique had expanded its representative offices to include Singapore, Sydney, Washington D.C., as well as a desk on the island of Jersey. It had also created and sustained several new investment institutions such as GTI (Cash Management Services for Companies); Banque Transatlantique Monaco specializing in providing investment services for French nationals living in Africa and throughout the Mediterranean; and four investment companies (Short Term Arbitrage, Options and Performance, First Arbitrage, and Secure Arbitrage).
The 90s: Crisis and Recovery
The early 1990s turned out to be a difficult decade for banks. Banque Transatlantique responded by placing more emphasis on its role as the bank for individuals living abroad by expanding its international scope. For a number of years it had a subsidiary in MonacoMonaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, Banque Transatlantique de Monaco. In 1995 it established its Washington, DC representative office and a new German department. Two years later it opened an Australian desk; two years after that it opened a representative office in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
that it later closed.
In alliance with Credito Italiano
Credito Italiano
Credito Italiano it was an Italian bank, now part of UniCredit Group. It was absorbed by Unicredit in 1998.Founded on April 28 1870 in Genoa as Banca di Genova, it took part in the establishment of Banco d'Italia and...
, the bank offered a wide range of services and benefits to both businesses and individual clients. In addition, the bank further focused on expatriates by promoting its relationship with the Alliance française
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
and supporting a host of cultural activities from seminars to the opening of an International French School in Philadelphia.
The difficulties the 1990s presented for Banque Transatlantique largely involved issues of wealth management. This was one factor behind the bank setting up a trust company on the island of Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
. A severe drop in housing prices caused the bank significant losses in its subsidiary UFICO, which became Transat Finance in 1997. Still, profitability in other areas, agreements between the banks and a network of English real estate companies, and the bank's partnership with the agency AICI allowed the bank to stay solvent.
Switching over to the Euro in 1998-1999 cost the bank an estimated 15.2 million francs. The bank worked with its clients to help them through this enormous and unprecedented transition by providing software to prevent credit risks imposed by both the currency switch and the millennium bug as well as by offering new information systems based in euros.
The new millennium
In 2000 the bank transferred its headquarters to 26, Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt. Two years later the bank acquired the wealth management service BLC Gestion, relying on its experience and expertise in markets to direct its more growth oriented portfolios. Then it purchased a 60% stake in Mutual Bank Luxembourg, which specializes in private wealth management services.Then, in 2008, after 25 years in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Banque Transatlantique upgraded its representative office there to a branch. The next year, saw the bank establishing a Financial Advisory company in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and a representative office in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Presidents of the Banque Transatlantique
- Eugène Pereire (1881–1906)
- Henri Durangel (1906–1909)
- Salomon Halfon (1909–1923)
- Auguste Thurneyssen (1923–1931)
- Georges Despret (1931–1940)
- Charles Dangelzer (1940–1970)
- Philippe Aymard (1970–1986)
- François de Sieyes (1986–1992)
- François Blanchard (1992–1993)
- Jean-Maurice Pinquier (1993–1998)
- Christiane Gonin (1998–2000)
- Guy-Vincent Audren de Kerdrel (2000–2005)
- Bruno Julien Laferrière (2005- )