1. BNP Paribas. The largest bank in France is BNP Paribas with US$2.357 trillion in assets. Founded since 1848, it is also the 2nd largest bank by assets in Europe and the eighth largest bank in the world. 

Compare BNP Paribas with Deutsche Bank, largest bank of Germany, by assets

History of BNP Paribas

2. Crédit Agricole. The "la banque verte" or the green bank, Crédit Agricole is the second biggest bank in France with US$2.1 trillion in assets. Founded since 1894, it has become the third largest bank by asset in Europe and tenth largest globally.

Compare Crédit Agricole with Banco Santander, largest bank of Spain

Crédit Agricole

3. Société Générale. Société Générale is France's third largest bank by total assets, sixth largest in Europe and nineteenth largest globally, managing up to US$1.53 trillion in assets. Along with BNP Paribas and Crédit Lyonnais, it is also known as the Trois Vieilles or "Old Three" of French banking.

Compare French banks Société Générale with Crédit Agricole

Société Générale group presentation

4. Groupe BPCE. Groupe BPCE is the fourth largest bank by assets (US$1.51 trilllion) in France and eighth largest in Europe.

5. Crédit Mutuel. Crédit Mutuel is a French cooperative bank based in Strasbourg, Alsace. It holds up to US$836 trillion in assets and is the 15th largest bank in Europe and 39th largest globally.

6. La Banque Postale SA. La Banque Postale is a French bank, created on 1 January 2006 as a subsidiary of La Poste, the national postal service. It is France's sixth largest bank, managing up to US$277 billion of assets.

Compare French banks Groupe BPCE and  Crédit Mutuel

In 2018, BNP Paribas is the 8th largest bank by total assets in the world (list of largest banks in the world).

You might be interested to know about:

• Europe: HSBC Holdings PLC and the largest banks in Europe
• France: BNP Paribas and the largest banks in France
• United Kingdom: HSBC Holdings PLC and the largest banks in United Kingdom
• Germany: Deutsche Bank and the largest banks in Germany
• Spain: Banco Santander and the largest banks in Spain

Interested in sovereign wealth funds (SWFs)? Learn about the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, the largest of which hails from Norway - the Government Pension Fund Global - with close to US$1 trillion under management. (list of world's largest sovereign wealth funds).