[9] With his 3 partners, Ambroise Leuret, Paul Muris and Gaston Riou, Dagot opened the first agency in Vincennes in December 1919.
The bank expanded to different areas in the early 1920s: Although the Centre fédératif du crédit populaire and the Caisse centrale des banques were responsible for the supervision of the Banques populaires, their weak authority and means of action allowed the bank to develop independently at first.
In addition to small accounts, the bank also welcomed larger clients such as the Mouchotte brothers (alcohol merchants), Noël (real estate agent), Paul Coche (furniture manufacturer) and the Banque des Travaux publics.
It financed large scale real estate project such as Cité Moderne but also the failed Manufacture française du Bois courbé.
The repeated interference of the Chambre syndicale did not please Louis Dagot who did not comply with its recommendations, despite the bogging down of his bank in the crisis.
On 17 March 1934, following the Stavisky Affair and the resulting social movements, a law was passed which allowed the Chambre syndicale to appoint the directors, presidents and administrators of the Banques Populaires.
He then undertook a wave of layoffs, divested unprofitable agencies, re-established headquarters authority, and reinvigorated team spirit.
The start of the war in 1939 caused the bank's customers to withdraw important amounts of cash and a drop in staff numbers as many young men were sent to the front.
In 1942, the bank changed its name and became the Banque régionale d'escompte et de dépôts (quickly nicknamed BRED).
Following World War II, BRED developed ties to a new clientele including social security funds and large industrial firms.
The National Cash Registers started to be gradually transferred to the accounting centers and agencies became mainly canvassing relays run by salespeople.
From 1978 onwards, the first branch terminals could consult the central information system, hosted in Créteil new offices and IT jobs became more and more important.
In the 1950s, faced with increased demand for personal loans, BRED developed its own credit sales financing subsidiary completely independent of the Caisse centrale.
BRED developed its own tools and dissociated itself from Caisse centrale to manage its increasingly important capital.
In 1982, the bank also acquired Richelieu, a securities firm, renamed Compagnie financière d'épargne et de placement (CFEP) the following year.
During the 1980s, the branches of the network were renovated with windows open on the streets, and a new blue logo with stripes thus uniformizing the image of the bank across the country.
To ensure a direct link with the metropolis and to offer Reunionese the same services, BRED set up a satellite communication system.
The bank's restaurant and hotel customers were hit hard by the real estate crisis and the Gulf War.
In 1992, BRED bought a part of the assets of the Pallas bank via its Holding Cofibred, BRED-Pallas Financement immobilier (BPFI).
In 1990, François-Xavier de Fournas-Labrosse, a former member of Société Générale, was appointed CEO of BRED, alongside Maurice Leruth, who did not announce his departure until 1992.
With this influx of money, BRED opened the capital of several of its subsidiaries to the Groupe des Banques Populaires – Soloma (leasing), Novacrédit (consumer credit), Cofibourse, Prepar Vie (the corporate branch), Interépargne and SBE.
On the risk management side, the Special Affairs Department (DAS) was created to assist defaulting clients.
In 1996 Natexis was created as a result of the merger of Crédit National and Banque Française du Commerce Extérieur.
As a result of these operations, the Groupe des Banques Populaires cleaned up BRED's slate of 1.7 billion francs.
de Fournas reached the age limit (65) and handed over the position of general manager to Jean-Michel Laty, who had made his debut at the Bics.
BRED refined its offer for large companies in the management of traditional and dematerialized flows, both domestic and international, as well as in mass processing.
As BRED entered the digital age, the bank developed offers for securing payment flows, data safe custody, document dematerialization and Internet purchasing management.
In 2004, BRED strengthened its presence in the overseas departments by acquiring the shares of the credit companies owned by the Agence Française de Développement in Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Martinique.
This record level of activity despite an unfavorable context (flattening of the yield curve and tightening of regulatory constraints) confirmed the success of the non-distance banking strategy implemented by BRED for several years.
[29][30][31] En 2022, la banque exploite 325 agences de proximité, dont 92 dans les DOM.