ECB fines French bank Crédit Agricole for failing to identify climate risks
A Credit Agricole logo outside a bank office in Reze, near Nantes, February 3, 2026. STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS The European Central Bank said on Friday, February 13, it had fined French bank Crédit Agricole €7.55 million for failing to properly identify climate change-related risks that could affect its balance sheet. "Crédit Agricole did not sufficiently assess the materiality of its climate-related and environmental risks" by a deadline set after an investigation in 2024, the ECB said in a statement, adding the bank was late by "75 full days." Since 2020, the ECB has required banks to manage and disclose climate-related risks to their portfolios as fears grow that increasingly frequent and intense natural disasters could hit asset values. The transition to a lower-carbon economy also introduces risk for investments in fossil fuel firms or energy-intensive sectors. Crédit Agricole expressed its "incomprehension" at the ECB's move and said the fine related to only a small part of the bank's work. Climate risk is limited overall across the bank, according to the statement. "This risk is immaterial at the Crédit Agricole group level," the bank said in a statement, adding that it had missed the ECB's deadline since "responding to the ECB at the requested level of granularity required extensive work." "The group reiterates that it naturally identifies and takes climate and environmental risks into account in its models," it said. The ECB fined Spanish bank Abanca €187,650 last November for failing to identify and disclose climate risks on time. Le Monde with AFP
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