Groupe BPCE
fr
Close the search form

Our actions

For Groupe BPCE, being associated with the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024 goes well beyond a commitment limited to public image and sponsorship activities. It forms an integral part of the Group’s ambition to become the benchmark banking partner of the sports economy.

For our country, the sports economy is a lever of economic growth. The Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024 will help develop all the dimensions of the sports industry in France as well as all the business areas involved in this global event.
Our group is well placed to play an active role in this economic development thanks to the support it already gives to business organizations, local authorities, associations, and federations, the financing it provides for start-ups and dedicated SMEs. It also provides an opportunity to put the expertise of all our brands at the service of entities involved in the Paris 2024 project, contributing to the financing of infrastructure projects and, more generally, to the development of the sports economy as a whole. 

This commitment also, and above all, expresses our determination to be a partner of all the local and regional communities and to contribute to the legacy of the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024 .

A partner of local communities for investment in sport

Groupe BPCE works alongside local authorities to finance infrastructure projects dedicated to sports activities and sporting events. More than 300 million euros are granted every year to finance sports infrastructure projects, notably by the Caisses d'Epargne, the Banques Populaires and Natixis. 

For example, Groupe BPCE has helped finance major infrastructure projects in France, such as the Maison du Handball flagship facility in Créteil in the southeast suburbs of Paris, and the Paris La Défense Arena. 

Maison du Handball

Sport & Performance Capital, the first fund dedicated to sports start-ups

Sport & Performance Capital, an investment fund set up by the Caisse d'Epargne and Seventure Partners (an affiliate of Natixis Investment Manager), will be investing 80 million euros in high-potential French regional companies chosen on the basis of their innovative thinking or their specific know-how in the areas of sport or well-being.  
This fund provides a concrete illustration of the commitment made by the Caisses d'Epargne to the sports economy in regional France. It will make it possible to select some fifteen companies in the sports economy with a view to supporting, financing and accompanying their development until 2029.

Since its creation, the Sport & Performance Capital investment fund has already invested in 5 companies offering innovative products and services in the sports economy, each pursuing extremely different and high-potential activities: Move’N See (robotic cameramen), SkillCorner, (gathering of sports data), Hardloop (retail website for sports equipment), Kinomap (immersive indoor training application) and Clim8 (connected and heated clothing)

For further details about the Sport & Performance Capital fund

Entreprendre 2024, meetings with entrepreneurs throughout France  

With the Entreprendre 2024 program, Groupe BPCE is mobilizing its efforts to ensure that the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024 will benefit local businesses… and micro-enterprises in particular. This initiative dovetails perfectly with the approach taken by Paris 2024 and SOLIDEO (Société de Livraison des Ouvrages Olympiques, the public entity responsible for managing structural and development projects for the Olympic Games Paris 2024) and their decision to organize Games that are both environmentally friendly and economically & socially responsible, notably by making tender invitations related to the construction projects and organization of Paris 2024 accessible to VSE-SMEs and entities active in the social & solidarity economy (SSE).

Informing regional VSE-SMEs and SSE entities about these opportunities, and facilitating their ability to seize them, is the commitment made by the Banques Populaires and Caisses d'Epargne, which are organizing a tour of France for this very purpose entitled Entreprendre 2024. This initiative is being carried out jointly with the MEDEF employers’ federation, Les Canaux (an entity supporting solidarity-based and innovative economic initiatives), France Active, CNCRESS (National Council of Regional Chambers of the Social Economy), Chambers of Commerce & Industry, ACPME, ADIE, Scop and other regional players...
Concretely, the aim is to enable all these companies to take part in the hundreds of tender invitations due to be issued up until 2024. These invitations to tender concern a large number of business sectors related to the construction of infrastructures and the organization of the games.

These meetings include presentations of the Entreprises 2024 and SSE 2024 online platforms designed to enable companies to submit bids to these tender invitations.
Some twenty dates have been scheduled throughout France with a view to raising the awareness of three to four thousand companies about these new opportunities.

The payment expertise of Groupe BPCE and Visa

Groupe BPCE (the No.1 issuer of Visa cards in continental Europe) and Visa (a member of the International Olympic Committee’s TOP partner program) share a common desire to develop innovative banking and payment experiences for fans of the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024 and, more broadly, for entities active in the sports economy. 

The group is consequently working with Visa to facilitate payments and transportation for spectators and delegations during the Olympic Games in Paris as well as in the cities hosting different events.

Groupe BPCE's ambition is to become the benchmark banking group for payments in the sports industry and major sporting events with a range of specific offers and services.

 Example of the Open payment solution developed for the public transport sector: example HERE 

Groupe BPCE analyzes the sports economy in France

In February 2020, Groupe BPCE published its first study into the sports economy in France, research that has already acquired reference status in this area. With four years to go before the Olympic Games Paris 2024, it seemed a worthwhile endeavor to help more clearly define the economic challenges facing this industry and its different players, associations and private companies. If the sector has undergone a radical transformation over the past decade and continues to boast considerable potential, it has unfortunately been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is the focus of a new study published in February 2021 in which BPCE’s economists set out to gauge the impacts of the health crisis on all the players in the sports economy while simultaneously analyzing their adaptation strategies.

To consult all the BPCE L’Observatoire studies devoted to the sports industry, click HERE

Sport & innovation: Groupe BPCE is a founding partner of Sport UnlimiTECH  

To further enhance its position as a leading banking player in the sports economy, the group is joining Sport UnlimiTECH as a founding partner. This move represents a new step in its commitment to encouraging events in the heart of local and regional France. An initiative of former rugby player Frédéric Michalak, Sport UnlimiTECH is a sports and technology event launched in Lyons in 2019 with a view to bringing together all the stakeholders in the French Sport and SporTech sectors. 

Starting in September 2021 and continuing until the end of the year, six French cities will be hosting events attended by professional athletes, federations, decision-makers, researchers, scientists, and leaders of SMEs, startups and large groups devoted to different sport-related issues such as performance, entertainment, health or CSR. 

The sports economy: Groupe BPCE teams up with the Choiseul Institute

With the Choiseul Institute, the group is creating the first-ever club specifically dedicated to the sports economy. 

The Choiseul Institute, a think tank dedicated to analyzing major economic issues and identifying new talent, and the group have decided to pool their expertise and launch the Choiseul Sport & Business Club to bring together the main economic, institutional, and political decision-makers in the sector around a range of key topics. 

Together, Groupe BPCE and the Choiseul Institute intend to contribute to the development of the sports economy and make it the new showcase for French excellence.
In order to further enhance the value of the sports sector, the Group is also becoming a strategic partner in the Choiseul Sport & Business ranking. This ranking highlights the 100 leaders aged 40 or less who contribute to the structuring of the sports economy in France. This initiative aims to create a space for meeting, sharing experiences, and creating synergies between the young talents in this sector.