On June 12, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, France's first corporate bank with a mission, will launch a zero-interest bicycle loan with no application fees, for individuals and professionals alike, whether for commuting, leisure or professional use, including electrically-assisted cargo bikes. This offer is financed by Crédit Mutuel's ‘Societal Dividend’, a recently launched initiative under which the bank pledges to contribute 15% of its annual net income to ESG projects.
"Between 2015 and 2020, 150,000 French people gave up their car and adopted the bicycle to get to work. Bicycle traffic is increasing by 30% a year in major cities. The cycling revolution has begun: Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale wants to be part of it, to make cycling a real alternative for getting around on a daily basis. But today, owning a bicycle, whether electrically assisted or not, is expensive. Not all households can afford it, given current inflation. That's why we're offering solidarity financing: this represents an effort of €15 to 20 million a year for Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale", says Nicolas Théry, the banking group’s Chairman.
"To bring about the environmental revolution, the question of mobility is key. Although bicycle use is booming, we still have a long way to go. Cycling is also a source of well-being and health. With the solidarity offer we're unveiling today, we're enabling everyone to get on board the train of transition and virtuous mobility! With this exclusive 0% no-cost bicycle loan – which is significantly lower than the cost to the bank – we are accelerating our commitment to the climate transition," says Daniel Baal, General Manager of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale.
A unique financing offer to facilitate access to active mobility
Accelerating everyone's access to green mobility is essential to the success of the environmental revolution, the second biggest concern of the French. An electrically-assisted bicycle has become a utilitarian means of transport for entrepreneurs or for daily mobility between home and work, and no longer just for leisure. It costs an average of €2,000, with cargo bikes costing up to €6,000. A significant expense at a time when inflation is weighing on the budgets of customers and professionals alike.
From June 12, 2023, the branches of the 14 Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale federations and the CIC branches will be offering their customers this unprecedented financing offer: a zero-interest, zero-fee bicycle loan over a term of 3 to 48 months – up to €6,000 for individuals and €10,000 for professionals.
The offer will also be available from other Crédit Mutuel federations: Crédit Mutuel Arkéa (Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne, Crédit Mutuel du Sud-Ouest), Crédit Mutuel Océan, and Crédit Mutuel Maine-Anjou, Basse-Normandie.
All types of new and used bikes are eligible: classic bikes, e-bikes, city bikes, mountain bikes, racing bikes, gravel bikes, cargo bikes, tricycles and more. Excluded are two-wheelers that regulations class as ‘mopeds’.
This offer is available to families, who can purchase up to four bicycles for their entire household.
Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, committed to carbon reduction
As a company with a mission, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale has also set itself ambitious targets for carbon reduction. In 2022, the banking group launched an ambitious in-house energy saving plan, building on actions that already reduced its carbon footprint by 21.4% between the end of 2018 and the end of 2021. The Group encourages the use of bicycles all year round, with a €700 mobility package for its employees, repair workshops and the installation of bicycle garages in head offices. These commitments complement Crédit Mutuel's mutual corporate social responsibility policy, with the implementation of ambitious sectoral policies.
Concrete implementation of the ‘Societal Dividend’
At the beginning of the year, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale announced the creation of its ‘Societal Dividend’, which consists of allocating 15% of its net income each year to the financing of projects for environmental transformation and solidarity. The interest expense relating to the bike loan offer will be allocated to this fund. With the Societal Dividend, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale wishes to play an active part in changing society towards a more inclusive and sustainable model.
