Colette B. began her career at the Bank in 1955, at just 21 years old, and went on to spend her entire professional life there. Her story, which spans the transformations of the banks that ultimately formed BNP Paribas and the changing landscape of the banking industry, has been chronicled in a notebook that she donated to the BNP Paribas Historical Archives. This enhanced life story allows you to hear Colette’s voice, read her personal anecdotes, and explore a wealth of contextual information through accompanying articles. Dive into her life story!
“I joined the Comptoir National d’Escompte de Paris (CNEP) in June 1955, after passing my entrance exam. My division manager assigned me to the Victor Hugo branch in Paris, where I started out working at the counter. This was the traditional starting point, and at the time, account records were still kept on small index cards. Although the work was tedious, I found it rewarding.
Then, the General Management decided to introduce mechanical machines to modernize account-keeping. Our branch was selected to pilot this new technology, and I was chosen to lead the implementation.
As part of this project, I was sent to the central branch on Rue Bergère in Paris for specialized training. It was a significant step forward in my career!”
The trial is a success, and the machines are rolled out to all branches in Paris and the surrounding areas. I’m selected to become a mechanography trainer, teaching others how to use these new machines.
Although I’m happy at my current branch, I have to move on. This marks the start of a new phase in my career.
My department head, who is a strong advocate for modernization, offers me his support. He reassures me and lets me know that he’s available to help me with any challenges I may face.
However, as a young woman traveling from branch to branch, I don’t go unnoticed…
At my third installation, at a Paris branch on the Rue du Commerce, the director leaves me standing in his office doorway for a few minutes, eyeing me from head to toe. It’s a reminder that, as a woman, I’m still an anomaly in this male-dominated field…
My next stop is Le Bourget, a small branch with a team of about 15 people, just north of Paris.
During my time here, I’m given the unusual task of carrying a revolver while I deliver payroll funds to the nearby factories.
The revolver
(in French only)
1966-1968 : The Upheavals
«One evening in June 1966, I was having dinner at my parents’ place when I heard on the radio that the CNEP (my bank) was going to merge with the BNCI. What a shock! Nobody had ever heard of it; the secret had been well kept… What was going to happen to us now?
The “thunderbolt”
(in French only)
Stunned by the news, I couldn’t sleep that night. What was falling on our heads?
Rather than a merger, it was an acquisition by the BNCI, which was much larger in terms of staff and wanted to impose its way of working. They arrived like conquerors, considering us incompetent. I therefore liquidated the service and had all the furniture dismantled, condemned to be scrapped, because nothing was to remain of the CNEP. That’s how BNP was born.” (The opinions and feelings expressed reflect Colette’s personal experience and feelings at the time of the events.)
“A chapter of my life is closing, what’s next for me?”
— Colette
After my bank was liquidated, I met with the person who had been assigned to handle my case. He greeted me warmly and told me that I would need to complete a one-year training program in all areas of the BNCI, to learn their procedures and ways of working. Once I had completed the training, I would be given a permanent assignment.
In addition, all the equipment we had installed in the CNEP branches was replaced with BNCI machines. As a result, we had to transfer customer accounts from the old machines to the new ones. This process was known as the “bascule”, and it had to be done outside of regular banking hours, which meant weekends. It required overtime, but the pay was excellent!
Before we knew it, it was May 1968… Does that date sound familiar to you?
Right in the midst of the riots, a team of three people from my agency decided to make an emergency trip to the Banque de France, located in the center of Paris, to retrieve some cash. They set off in a small car, but they weren’t the only ones to have had this idea…every other bank was there too, waiting in line. The problem was, the striking workers had formed a barricade, blocking access to the bank. And to make matters worse, none of the Banque de France’s armored trucks could get out!
In the midst of the 1968 uprising
(In French only)
At last, around 4 pm, a cash-laden armored truck broke through and began distributing bags of money to each bank at breakneck speed, without any checks or balances. It was unprecedented – never before had sacks of cash been handed out without anyone knowing the amount or having any control over it. If this hadn’t happened, the situation could have spiraled out of control and turned into a full-blown Revolution!
I completed my internship at the beginning of 1969, at the age of 33, and was assigned to the “Secrétariat Engagement” of the Champs-Élysées agency.
The people assigned to this agency necessarily belong to the bank’s elite! I soon move up to the General Management, on the Boulevard des Italiens, in the “Organization” department. It’s at this point that I become a “manager” or an “executive”.
But after four years in this agency, I get bored. I’m not yet 40, and my career is still ahead of me. My ambition? To become a Chief Administrative Group Manager (CGA): a position of responsibility that involves managing personnel and all administrative tasks.
It’s not going to be easy… It’s worth noting that at that time, out of about 55 positions in Paris, there were only two women, both single and childless (because yes, at BNP, if a woman wants to succeed in her professional career, she must not have any family constraints that could hinder her work)… But in the face of my determination, everyone gives in!
So, after a few weeks of training, I land my first job as an assistant at the Gobelins agency, Place d’Italie. I’m reunited with a former boss as the Chief Administrative Group Manager (CGA) who I had known at Boulevard Voltaire. We’re happy to be working together again!
It’s a major group. I’m completely satisfied with my work and I’m learning a lot from the deputy manager. Even though I’m a woman, I’m well accepted by all the staff, including those from the affiliated agencies.
Then, around mid-December 1977, I am transferred to the Kleber agency.
I present myself to the Director: he receives me for about 40 seconds, because he is very, very, very busy. More misogynistic than him, it probably doesn’t exist!
For example, every morning, the Management Committee meets in the boss’s office. In principle, I should be able to attend. But my male colleagues are invited, and not me (after all, I’m just a woman!).
On a completely different topic, during my time, we had a robbery at one of our affiliated agencies, which was quite traumatic.
During my career as a Chief Administrative Group Manager, I had to deal with five heists, and I didn’t even count the number of bomb threats… When it happened at my agency, I would immediately close the bank, and then I had to take care of the tellers, who were in shock. We would send them to the doctor to make accident reports, but the social security system wouldn’t take them into account: for them, a heist wasn’t a work-related accident!
Listen to Colette’s good advice in case of a heist!
Read the transcription in French
Bien sûr, moi j’ai jamais eu le revolver sur la tempe, mais ce que je disais toujours à mes guichetiers : « surtout vous ne faites pas de zèle, et si vous avez un hold-up, vous donnez la caisse sans… sans discuter, sans rien, parce qu’on sait jamais, si jamais vous essayez de ne pas donner votre argent, vous risquez d’avoir peut-être un coup de revolver et je voulais surtout pas avoir quelqu’un qui soit blessé ou voire pire hein, on sait jamais !
Then, after two years in this Group, my supervisor recommends me for a group leader position, and a few days later, an agency Director recruits me. This Director is one of my former colleagues from the Kleber agency, with whom I got along very well. I’m thrilled!
So, in January 1980, I finally land my first position as a Chief Administrative Group Manager, and I’m promoted to “Deputy Director”. Yay, I did it! I receive a phone call from my former supervisor at BNP’s General Management, congratulating me. He tells me that I was right to be persistent.
