HSBC Hervet

Banque Hervet, now HSBC Hervet, was created in 1830 with the establishment of Société Domont et Déséglise in Bourges. Founded by two traders, Banque Hervet offered credit and discount services to its customers. In 1846, Claude Domont teamed up with his son-in-law, Ludovic Grenouillet, who purchased Banque Duret-Martinet in 1875. Under the Second Empire and the Third Republic, the bank came under the direction of Alphonse Bureau and then Albert Hervet, a descendant from a long line of notary publics. Mr. Hervet became a member and then Chairman of the Bourges Chamber of Commerce from 1905 to 1927.

Albert Hervet stepped down in 1919 and handed over the reigns of the bank to his son, Henri.
Driven by the region’s economic recovery, Banque Hervet grew beyond the Bourges city limits, expanding to the French department of Cher and then Loiret. From 1920 to 1930, 25 new agencies were opened, in addition to a branch in Vierzon. The bank had also expanded its activities to cover all banking sectors, including discounting, loans, cash credit and seasonal credit.

Banque Hervet became a public limited company in December 1930. Some of its largest subscribers included Albert Hervet, who held half of the capital, Banque de l'Union Parisienne and Société Nancéenne de Crédit Industriel et de Dépôts. The bank continued its expansion even during the crisis of the 1930s. In 1933, it acquired Banque Gerbier de Châteauroux, thus gaining a foothold in the Indre. This same branch would become Banque Hervet’s temporary head office in the unoccupied zone of France during World War II. It was also the starting point of the bank’s development in the Indre.

Business picked up the pace as soon as the war ended. Deposits climbed and the bank continued to expand its network by investing in real estate. In addition to opening new branches in the city centre, Banque Hervet also began seeking ways to target a more rural clientele.

The opportunity to set up shop in Paris came in the early 1950s via the Hervet family’s purchase of a stake in Banque Centrale d'Escompte. The two establishments merged in autumn 1954, giving Banque Hervet a branch on Boulevard Malesherbes. The Paris branch enjoyed a rousing success, with deposits topping out at FRF 1 billion in 1957. Two years later, the bank acquired Banque Bertrant and thus the Opéra branch was created, soon followed by a branch in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Alongside other regional and national banking establishments, Banque Hervet created the Union des Banques pour l'Equipement in 1964, with the aim of facilitating the investment plans of businesses as well as individual customers. It then created Crédit pour l'Accession à la Propriété (CREDAP), a subsidiary specialising in real estate finance, which met with rapid success and would become Hervet Créditerme several years later.

Henry Hervet retired as head of the bank in 1968, after fifty years of service. After his departure, he made changes to the bank’s structure: management would become a collective body, consisting of Georges Hervet, Pierre Barbé and Jean-Luc Ewald, and would be controlled by a Supervisory Board, chaired by Henri Hervet himself. At the time of his death in 1971, Banque Hervet comprised 58 branches, including 10 in Paris, and would soon become one of the 20 most profitable French banks. The bank launched its IPO on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1974.

With the development of the network, clientele and activities, the Neuilly and Bourges offices were no longer big enough to hold the growing staff, so a new administrative centre was opened in Fussy, near Bourges, in 1972. The 3,000m² facilities housed the Administrative and Accounting Department, IT equipment and loan administration staff. Two buildings were also constructed in Neuilly to house the Financial Department and fast-rising International Department.

In the 1970s, when tough measures had to be taken due to the recession, the bank was nevertheless able to continue expanding at a rate of three to four new branches per year. It had two subsidiaries, Hervet Crediterme and Hervet Gestion, and five holdings in institutions specialising in lease financing, real estate, equipment and advertising. It also acquired the single-branch Compagnie Parisienne de Banque, which continued to operate under the name Société Parisienne de Banque. 

Just prior to its nationalisation, the group posted satisfactory results, its net profits were up 24% and it had recently opened a new branch in Monaco. Lisette Mayret, Managing Director of Compagnie Financière de Rothschild, was appointed to run the bank in February 1982. Her plan entailed sticking to the bank’s general guidelines for the country and developing certain sectors, such as the corporate and wealth management markets.

The bank created new products, opened more branches in Paris and the provinces and launched new marketing plans.
Part of the plan was to introduce a new logo. The green wave underlining the bank’s name symbolized both its dynamic energy as well as the valleys and prairies of Berry and the Centre region.

The change in French government in 1986 brought Jean-Baptiste Pascal to the helm of Banque Hervet. Pascal, Central Manager of CCF and Chairman of one of its subsidiaries, Interbail, made the decision to reform the bank’s structures with the aim of re-stimulating the businesses linked to real estate, markets and IT, an undertaking that demanded considerable investments.

Three years later, under the Rocard administration, finance auditor Patrick Careil took charge of Banque Hervet, initiating further investments in the retail network, new products and European partnerships. By 1990, the bank totalled 68 branches, including 24 in Paris and its suburbs. External growth continued to forge ahead with the purchase of several brokerage firms, Crédit Chimique and Banque de Baecque Beau, a longstanding institution specialising in high net worth clientele. Partnership agreements were also signed with two German and Italian banks.

Banque de Baecque Beau was created in 1837 as a ordinary partnership by two traders, Camille Cailliez and Charles de Baecque. Its business was twofold : negotiating commissions on merchandise and banking affairs.

In 1846, the bank joined forces with Alexis Beau. It began operating under the name Cailliez, de Baecque et Beau, and refocused on banking activities, primarily discount transactions. Its name was changed once again in the 19th century with the arrival of a new partner, Maurice Lantin.

It was only after World War II that the bank adopted the name Banque de Baecque Beau (BBB).
Over the course of the 20th century, BBB developed a network of correspondents outside France and established partnerships with other institutions its size. This system allowed it to benefit from the use of a network of IT equipment and participate in the management of mutual profit-sharing funds and loan issues.

Banque de Baecque Beau (BBB) merged with Hervet Group in 1991. A few years later, it bought out a number of bank clientele portfolios and absorbed Société Parisienne de Banque in 1997.

In the early 1990s, Banque Hervet was hit hard by the economic recession and its impact on the real estate sector. Starting in 1992, it was forced to make drastic budget cuts. Patrick Careil, who had been looking since his arrival for a partner to back his establishment, signed a participatory agreement with Crédit Commercial de France (CCF) in 1993.

CCF acquired 12.5%, then 34%, of Banque Hervet, while the latter took a 1% stake in CCF’s capital. CCF later withdrew from Banque Hervet’s capital due to the bank’s mediocre results, and the French government took over its stake. After navigating a tough period replete with uncertainties, the bank got back on the growth track. Internal and external growth initiatives were jointly undertaken with Banque de Baecque Beau.

The issue of Banque Hervet’s privatisation, put on hold for several years, was again brought to the forefront in 2000. A number of French banks lined up to make takeover bids. In the end, it was CCF, which had just recently become a member of the global HSBC Group, that won the regulators’ approval, based on its complementary geographic distribution, skills and clientele. The AGM of February 16, 2001 approved the government measures that made Hervet Group a banking subsidiary of CCF.
In 2004, François Morlat replaced Patrick Careil at the head of the bank when he left to join CCF.

After Bourges and Paris, Banque Hervet continued to grow as part of a major international group. In autumn 2005, it brought its network of Paris branches to HSBC’s new Ile-de-France division; in the Centre region, where the bank originated 175 years earlier, it began operating under the name HSBC Hervet.