Crédit Agricole has reshuffled a number of staff throughout the group and promoted one member of staff to deputy chief executive.

Michel Mathieu has been appointed deputy chief executive officer, a position he will take up on 1 March upon the retirement of Bernard Mary. He will be responsible for LCL – previously Le Credit Lyonnais – and international retail banking.

Mr Mathieu has worked at Crédit Agricole since 1983 and has been a director of Crédit Agricole SA, the group's central body and central bank, since 2008. He is also a director of Banco Popolare Friuladria, an Italian bank owned by the group, and a member of the federal bureau of the

Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole (FNCA), a research and communication body for the group's regional banks.

In other changes, the board of directors of Crédit Agricole SA has co-opted Philippe Brassac as a director and appointed him as deputy chairman. Shareholders will be asked to approve Mr Brassac’s co-opting at their annual general meeting. In his role as director he replaces Jean-Paul Chifflet, who will become chief executive officer of the group on 1 March, as reported by WealthBriefing last November.

Mr Brassac is currently chief executive officer of the Caisse Régionale Provence Côte d’Azur and was elected secretary general of FNCA on 7 January 2010. He is also deputy-chairman of Rue La Boétie SAS - which owns over half the share capital of Crédit Agricole SA.

Petra Joucken is joining Fund Channel – the group’s distribution platform, part-owned by BNP Paribas – as head of management company relations. Ms Joucken is charged with developing new distribution agreements with management companies, notably in Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands.

Ms Joucken joins the company from ING where she was responsible for the distribution of third party funds for the private banking network.