Groupe BPCE (for Banque Populaire Caisse d'Epargne) is a major French banking group formed by the 2009 merger of two major retail banking groups, Groupe Caisse d'Épargne and Groupe Banque Populaire. As of 2021, it was France's fourth largest bank, the seventh largest in Europe, and the nineteenth in the world by total assets. It has more than 8,200 branches nationwide under their respective brand names serving nearly 150 million customers. It is Europe's largest bank by revenue, ahead of BNP Paribas and HSBC. It is considered a global systemically important bank (G-SIB) by the Financial Stability Board. Background Caisses d'Épargne, Eulia and Ixis Groupe Caisse d'Épargne ("Savings Bank Group") was born in 1818 with the foundation of the Paris savings bank, . It long grew from the bottom up as an expanding set of local savings banks, until a 1983 legislation created a central financial entity or "national center", the (CENCEP). In 1992, CENCEP was replaced by the (CNCE), which unlike CENCEP was a licensed bank. In 1999, new legislation transformed the savings banks into cooperatives. These developments paved the way for the gradual transformation of the decentralized network of savings banks into an increasingly integrated universal banking group in the next decade. In July 1999, CNCE acquired majority ownership of Crédit Foncier de France. Also in 1999, France's Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) formed a commercial and investment banking subsidiary, CDC IXIS. In 2001, CNCE and CDC formed a joint venture, Eulia, to which CDC contributed CDC IXIS. In June 2004, CNCE took full control of Eulia and therefore also of CDC IXIS, which it renamed Ixis. Between 2003 and 2008 CNCE separately acquired the French subsidiary of Sanpaolo IMI, including the former and French operations of the Banque Française Commerciale, and made it its private banking subsidiary under the new brand Banque Palatine adopted in June 2005. Banques Populaires and Natexis Groupe Banque Populaire ("People's Bank Group") was born in 1878 with the foundation of the first local Popular Bank () in the western French city of Angers. In 1917, new legislation established the local Popular Banks' cooperative status and in 1921, another legislative act established a central financial entity, the (CCBP). In 1919, the French state sponsored the creation of Crédit National, a specialized bank. In 1946, the French state created Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur (Coface), a trade credit insurer, and Banque