Banque Indosuez

Its chairman François de Flers [fr] then attempted to counter Empain's influence in the bank (as the rest of the shareholder base was highly dispersed) by inviting the Compagnie Financière de Suez, with which the bank had several common business interests, to invest in it as well.

In January 1967, Suez acquired 7 percent of the bank's capital, the same amount as held by Empain by then.

De Flers subsequently invited La Paternelle, an insurer, to acquire a further 4 percent of the bank's capital, thus consolidating a group of friendly shareholders.

[2] Banque Indosuez was nationalized, together with its longstanding rival Paribas, by the government led by Pierre Mauroy under President François Mitterrand.

It is headquartered at 17 rue du Docteur Lancereaux in Paris and has offices in several financial centers, including in Geneva.

Westpac acquired Banque de Polynésie in 1990, when Indosuez was divesting itself of almost all of its overseas retail banking operations.