Government nationalises major deposit banks in 1946

This extract from the Journal officiel de la République française reports on the nationalisation of the major French deposit banks on 1 January 1946 and defines the new governance of the banking institutions concerned.

The bank nationalisation law of 2 December 1945 placed the major French deposit banks under the authority of the State: Crédit Lyonnais, Société Générale, Comptoir National d’Escompte de Paris and Banque Nationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie. The goal was to “direct the national savings towards the vast investments required to rebuild the country after the 2nd World War,” as General de Gaulle explained in March 1945 before the consultative assembly.
These nationalisations were part of larger programme that reorganised the entire banking activity and gave the State control over lending.