Jacques de Fouchier (1911-1997), a gifted businessman
While his background and education would have led him down a more traditional and conventional path, Jacques de Fouchier, guided by his heart, instinct, and taste for the improbable, forged a career that defied the norm. A visionary from the post-war era, he anticipated the immense needs of the French people for housing, equipping their homes and businesses, and thus created one of the largest financial groups of his time. The acceleration of Paribas’ international development through its network also took place under his impetus.
The Journey of a Free Man
Jacques de Fouchier was born on June 18, 1911, in Le Pecq. His father was President of the Chamber of the Court of Auditors. Jacques de Fouchier pursued his studies at Louis Le Grand, then at the Faculty of Letters and Law of Paris, and at the Free School of Political Sciences. He married very young, and six children were born from this union. He began his career in 1934 in the administration, as an Inspector of Finances, and then in 1942 as Deputy Director of the Department of External Economic Relations (CREE).
During the war, Jacques de Fouchier held what he would later call in one of his books “the most beautiful of military commands, that of a captain at the head of a unit in the field“. Noting the enormous financing needs of businesses after the war, Jacques de Fouchier created the UFEFE (Union Financière des Entreprises Françaises et Etrangères) in 1946 to finance imports of essential raw materials. Success came quickly.
In 1950, the UFEFE became the UFB (Union Française des Banques). Then came the UCB, Cetelem, APEC 1%, CFEC, and Ségécé. “These companies developed like mushrooms,” Jacques de Fouchier would say. “So I proposed to the shareholders to bring their shares to a holding company.” This was the Compagnie Bancaire, which was established in 1959, and of which he became the president. Soon came the support of the powerful Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, which agreed to be the lead investor in the group of shareholders formed around the Compagnie Bancaire. And in 1969, Jacques de Fouchier naturally became the president of the Paribas Group, a position he held for ten years, before taking an active retirement.
From Vision to Action: The History of Cetelem
In post-war France, factories reopened, production was organized and intensified. The production apparatus was rebuilt, but the problem of outlets arose: the French did not have enough money, they deprived themselves or obtained a discount from merchants. In 1952, France had only 100,000 refrigerators and 20,000 washing machines. Only 7% of families were equipped.
Jacques de Fouchier, who had created the UFEFE (future Union française des banques) in September 1946, tasked one of his close collaborators, Boris Mera, in October 1952 to study across the Atlantic the financing of credit sales and the possibilities of adaptation to France. For the United States had a head start in this area. Upon his return to France, Boris Mera confirmed to Jacques de Fouchier the relevance of his idea: in the United States, consumer credit was a success, but he specified that “we cannot transpose the system to France without discernment or reserve“.
On January 9, 1953, Jacques de Fouchier defined in a report the modalities of Cetelem’s (Crédit pour l’équipement électroménager) intervention and the relationships between buyers, distributors, manufacturers, and Cetelem. On May 6, 1953, Cetelem was born: a new profession was born in France.
From Dream Kitchen to Consumer Credit: Cetelem at the French Salon des arts ménagers
We are in Paris in 1955. Mr. and Mrs. André, a couple in their thirties, hurry to the Grand Palais to discover the latest wonders of the Household Arts Fair. At that time, people dream of a fully equipped kitchen: refrigerator, gas stove, coffee grinder… But how to finance these purchases, when a refrigerator costs the equivalent of six months’ salary?
A banker with a vision
A Rare Breadth of Influence – Beyond the circle of the Compagnie Bancaire and Paribas, Jacques de Fouchier was highly influential in the world of finance and politics: he sat on numerous boards (Crédit National, Crédit Foncier de France, Gervais Danone, Schlumberger, Xerox, Thomson-Brandt, Compagnie Française des Pétroles, etc.) and notably presided over the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (Medical Research Foundation).
At one point, he was tempted by a literary career, but gave it up for family and financial reasons. Literature, however, remained his passion and regret, and he published three books: “Le goût de l’Improbable” (“The Taste of the Improbable”), “La Banque et la Vie” (“Banking and Life”), and “Euphorismes” (“Euphorisms”).
He lent his name to the Prix Jacques de Fouchier at the Académie Française, which has been awarded annually since 1998 to a remarkable work or achievement, distinguished by its subject, composition, and style, written by a non-professional author.
“Literary fame and academic laurels have been, since adolescence, my true ambition. The responsibility for this lies with the Académie Française itself. Indeed, it awarded me, at the age of sixteen, the first 500 francs of my life, 500 francs of the time, by granting me a poetry prize. Lacking the talent necessary for the literary creations I dreamed of then, I ultimately turned to creating new businesses.”
Excerpt from the speech of Mr. de FOUCHIER on the occasion of the awarding of the “Best Report 1963 Prize” to the Compagnie Bancaire – Historical Archives of BNP Paribas (FRAHBNPP_PER32_001)
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