Crédit Agricole and Worldline announce the creation of their joint-venture for digital payment services for merchants in France. At the first Board meeting, held on 19 March 2024, Laurent Bennet, Chief Executive Officer of Crédit Agricole des Savoie, was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors and Meriem Echcherfi was appointed Chief Executive Officer. The commercial brand of the joint venture will be unveiled very soon.

Mr. Laurent Bennet, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the joint-venture: After starting his career in an agricultural trade organisation, Mr. Laurent Bennet spent most of his career at Crédit Agricole, firstly at the Morbihan Regional Bank as a corporate account manager, then as agricultural market manager and deputy credit manager. In 2004, he joined the Pyrénées Gascogne Regional Bank, where he held a number of positions, including Business Manager and Network Manager. He was appointed Deputy General Manager of the Savoie Regional Bank in 2009.

In 2013, he joined Crédit Agricole S.A. as Deputy Head of Group Risks and Permanent Controls before being appointed Head of Agriculture, Agrifood and Business Services. Since January 2019, Laurent Bennet has been Chief Executive Officer of Crédit Agricole des Savoie. Laurent Bennet is a graduate of AgroParisTech and the Institut Technique de Banque.

Mrs. Meriem Echcherfi, Managing Director of the joint-venture: Meriem Echcherfi began her career at Société Générale in 2004, within the risk department on the Basel II project implementation and then in the corporate and investment banking division as director of market Risk Advisory and derivative sales for corporate clients. In 2012, she joined the Boston Consulting Group as project leader for financial institutions in Paris and Casablanca, before becoming Head of Mastercard Advisors France in 2016, then Vice President in charge of business development in 2018. Meriem Echcherfi joined Crédit Agricole in 2019 as head of Credit Agricole SA Group Strategy, then Head of Merchant Services in 2023.