European Central Bank fines Credit Agricole €5m for reporting errors
French bank Credit Agricole must pay almost €5m (£4.5m) in fines after the European Central Bank (ECB) found it had misreported key balance sheet information.
The lender classified instruments as common equity tier 1 (CET1) without obtaining permission, the ECB said in a statement.
Banks must hold a certain amount of equity capital to protect against financial crisis, with a higher CET1 capital ratio indicative of a more resilient balance sheet. Classifying existing instruments as CET1 could therefore give the impression that a bank is stronger than it really is.
Credit Agricole was fined €4.3m, while its subsidiaries, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and CA Consumer Finance, were fined €300,000 and €200,000 respectively for similar procedural breaches.
The decision imposing a sanction may be challenged before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Credit Agricole did not immediately respond to a request for comment.