France: Crédit Agricole Posts a Loss

The French bank Crédit Agricole posted a fourth-quarter loss after large write-downs related to the global credit crisis, but its shares rose as the bank said it was not planning any major acquisitions. Crédit Agricole posted a bigger-than-expected net loss of 857 million euros ($1.30 billion). The bank was hurt by a 3.3 billion euro write-down at its investment banking arm. A year earlier, it posted a net profit of just over 1 billion euros. "We have built a solid model," the chairman, René Carron, above, said. "With its sound capital base, the group will make organic growth its priority and it is not considering any significant new acquisitions."