Enjoying the thrill of sport, together

Premium Partner of the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024

Surpassing yourself, giving your very best, and improving your personal performance: the Olympic movement is the perfect example of high performance… a performance founded on, and inspired by, the three universal values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect. Because we subscribe to these same ideals, we became the exclusive banking partner of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) in 2010. We also joined, the Paris 2024 national partnership program in 2019, thereby teaming up with one of the world’s most powerful events in terms of media coverage, and the biggest ever organized in France.

Major support for the sporting world in the regions

In addition to national partnerships, the Banque Populaire banks and Caisses d'Epargne support stakeholders in the world of sport within their respective regions. Our regional banks subsidize or sponsor more than 4,500 sports associations or clubs and, in doing so, actively participate in local life, encourage everyone to take part in sport, and contribute to the emergence of new talents.

The Group's companies have also provided support to approximately two hundred athletes throughout France.

Banque Populaire and sailing

Since 1989, Banque Populaire has been a consistently dependable partner of the world of sailing. A ship-owner and competitor itself, the bank has distinguished itself by entering exceptional boats in the world’s most legendary races and by supporting some of the most highly talented skippers of their generation.

But Banque Populaire is also committed to building greater awareness of the quality of French sailing as a whole. For almost three decades, it has distinguished itself by providing unfailing support for sailing clubs, sailing schools, and the French national team through its partnership with the French Sailing Federation. This has enabled it to help develop this sport at all regional and national levels, and to promote all the different ways of practicing this sport from initial discovery to high-level competitions. As a sponsor of the Eric Tabarly Association since 2003, the bank has taken concrete steps to preserve France's sailing heritage and to maintain the seaworthiness of the Pen Duick, the fleet of ocean racing yachts sailed by France’s most celebrated yachtsman Eric Tabarly.

Team Banque Populaire, a winning side!

The most successful sailing sponsor in the world, Banque Populaire, with its skippers and racing yachts, has triumphed in the world’s most prestigious races. To name but a few:  the Transat Jacques-Vabre in 2005 with Pascal Bidégorry and Lionel Lemonchois, the Jules Verne Trophy in 2012, and the Route du Rhum in 2014 with Loïck Peyron, the Vendée Globe with Armel Le Cléac'h in 2017, and the Solitaire du Figaro in 2020, once again with Armel Le Cléac'h at the helm.

Today, the flagship of the fleet is the Maxi Banque Populaire XI, a jewel of high technology and innovation measuring 32 meters from prow to stern and 23 meters in width. After completing her maiden voyage in May 2021, this giant of the seas will soon set sail with her skipper Armel Le Cléac'h who is currently preparing for some of the most thrilling sailing adventures on the seas around the world.

The Banque Populaire is also...

• The builder of 6 multi-hull vessels, including the largest ocean-going racing trimaran ever built,
• 4 around-the-world races,
• 18 crewed and single-handed ocean sailing records,
• More than 40 participations in the world’s largest ocean races including 3 Vendée Globe, 7 Routes du Rhum, and 12 Transat Jacques Vabre races,
•  42 Atlantic crossings,
• The owner of 12 racing yachts.

Two ocean racing skippers: Clarisse Crémer and Armel Le Cléac'h 

Armel Le Cléac'h, who boasts an impressive track record in ocean racing, set sail on his new boat, the Maxi Trimaran Banque Populaire XI, with Kevin Escoffier and finished 3^rd in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2021. He is currently preparing for the Route du Rhum, a single-handed race from Saint-Malo in Brittany to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe that will start on November 6 this year with a very strong field of competitors.
Winner of the 2016-2017 Vendée Globe, Armel is also a member of the most exclusive club of three-time winners of one of the world’s most celebrated races: the Solitaire du Figaro that he won in 2003, 2010, and 2020.

Clarisse Crémer joined Team Banque Populaire in 2019 and completed the 2020 Vendée Globe on her Mono Banque Populaire X with a very respectable 12^th place and the title of ‘First Lady.’ She also became the fastest woman in the history of the race, beating the record held by Ellen MacArthur for the past 20 years. 
In 2021, Banque Populaire and Clarisse Crémer decided to extend their partnership with a new ambition aboard a 2020-generation hydrofoil boat – the vessel currently named ‘Apivia’ – for the 2024 edition of the Vendée Globe. 

For the greater glory of French sailing

Banque Populaire is also committed to the promotion of French sailing, fostering the development of sailing clubs and schools, and has been supporting the French sailing team for 20 years.

• 55,000 lifejackets, 6,000 boats or sails, and 160,000 items of sportswear jointly financed through a partnership between Banque Populaire and the French Sailing Federation (FFVoile)
• Support for 1,500 sailing clubs and schools.

Banque Populaire and surfing

The same passion, the same natural environment for Banque Populaire! Just like sailing, surfing rewards individuals possessing an entrepreneurial spirit: a keen sense of observing their environment, anticipating actions taken by others, the mastery of innovation in the face of the elements, a quest for performance, and a thirst for success. Since 2020, Banque Populaire has been a principal partner of the French Surfing Federation. 

Here again, the objective is clear: to support this sport at every national and regional level, to accompany the success of all surfing enthusiasts, and to glide serenely up to the next Olympic Games where competitions in this discipline will be organized for the second time. 

Banque Populaire is accompanying the national French surfing team and supports all types of surfing variants such as longboard surfing and stand-up paddle racing. It is also associated with two flagship events organized by the French Surfing Federation (FFSurf): the French Open shortboard circuit (Olympic support) which is now called the Banque Populaire Surf Tour, and the French Surfing Championships by Banque Populaire in Biarritz at the end of October 2022.

It also helps develop the structures of the French Surf School label, which trains and supports young people until they reveal their full potential. Banque Populaire also sponsors the actions of FFSurf aimed, in particular, at limiting the number of deaths by drowning within the framework of the Aisance Aquatique (‘At ease in the water’) water safety plan. Every year, 65,000 people start surfing and receive training in first aid procedures in the marine environment.

• Find out more about surfing