Crédit Agricole , a network of cooperative and mutualist banks, has launched a corporate venture studio for fintechs, La Fabrique. The group is now building its own fintechs to complement and disrupt itself, and the sector.

The bank felt that a corporate start-up studio to build its own fintechs would preserve the natural advantages of the independent model while also layering it with a set of advantages from the bank for the future start-ups to be launched. Advantages include expertise and reputation on the financial market, authorisations and certifications and access to a well-established distribution network, among others. One of the studio’s missions is to try and preserve the link between the start-ups and the bank, so La Fabrique started by seconding a small team of experienced people with complementary skills from across the existing business.