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Olivier Klein

CEO of Lazard Frères Banque and Managing Partner. Professor of Financial Macroeconomics and of Monetary Policy at HEC Paris.

Career path

  • CEO of Lazard Frères Banque and Managing Partner
  • CEO of BRED Group till June 2023
  • Member of the Supervisory Board and the Risk Committee of BPCE Group till June 2023
  • First Deputy Chairman of the Fédération Nationale des Banques Populaires till June 2023
  • Member of the board of Rexecode
  • Affiliate Professor at HEC in Economics and Finance (Monetary Policy, Financial Cycles and Crises and Banking) and co-director of the Grande Ecole Major (Master 2) and specialized Master of the same name: Economics and Finance and the Master: Economics and Finance
  • President of the French section of the European League for Economic Cooperation (LECE) 
  • Distinguished for his investment in the service of the general interest, with the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor, promotion of January 1, 2021.

Graduation

Olivier Klein is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique (ENSAE) and of HEC Graduate School of Finance, has a degree in Economics (Université Panthéon-Sorbonne) and holds Russian and English language diplomas.

BFCE

Olivier Klein joined the BFCE (Banque Francaise du Commerce Exterieure) in 1985 and held several positions of responsibility.

He was in charge of the Foreign Exchange risk and Interest risk management department for the bank’s major clients.

Then he created and managed the investment bank specializing in Acquisitions & Mergers and Private Equity.

He was then appointed corporate banking Regional Director of the Rhone-Alpes-Auvergne-Bourgogne-Franche Comté areas for medium and large sized companies. In addition, he was part of the working group that was in charge of the merger of Crédit National and BFCE which became Natexis.

Caisse d’Epargne

Olivier Klein then joined the Caisse d’Epargne group in 1998 and served as CEO for Caisse d’Epargne Ile-de-France Ouest from 2000 onwards.

In early 2007 Olivier Klein was asked to manage the merger of Caisse d’Epargne Lyon and Caisse d’Epargne Grenoble and was duly appointed as CEO of Caisse d’Epargne Rhone-Alpes (the second largest bank of the Groupe Caisse d’ Epargne) after they successfully merged in June 2007. In parallel he chairs the retail banking committee of the Groupe Caisse d’Epargne.

BPCE

In February 2010 he was appointed as CEO – Commercial Banking and  Insurance- of Groupe BPCE (Groupe Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne) overseeing Banques Populaires, Caisse d’Epargne and Banque Palatine.

At this time he was simultaneously both a member of the Board at Natixis and at CNP and was also Chairman of the Board at Banque Palatine.

BRED Group

Olivier Klein has been CEO of BRED Group – Groupe BPCE’s largest commercial bank- since October 2012.

The BRED Group has a retail bank, a corporate bank, a private bank, a trading desk, an asset management company, an insurance company, a Private Equity activity and bank subsidiaries in South East Asia, the Pacific region, the Horn of Africa and in Switzerland.

From 2012 to 2022, BRED’s results have been remarkable, with a 81% increase in net banking income and a x2,8 increase in consolidated net profit.

Find out more about BRED’s growth trajectory

Other mandats

  • Olivier Klein is named President of the French section of the European League for Economic Cooperation ( LECE ) since january 2018 replacing Philippe Jurgensen.
  • In april 2018, Olivier Klein is appointed to the board of the renowned economic situation institute: Rexécode (a French non governmental macroeconomics research institute devoted to the analysis of the economic situation.)
  • In January 2019, Olivier Klein becomes a Member of the Supervisory Board and joins for the occasion the Risk Committee of BPCE Group.
  • In June 2018, Olivier Klein is elected First Deputy Chairman of the Fédération Nationale des Banques Populaires.

Teaching

In addition, Olivier Klein is an Affiliate Professor at HEC. He was a lecturer in the final year of his degree at the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) for the course on “international monetary problems” from 1983 to 1985 and Director of Research Groups in the third year at ENSAE (Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique) in 1985-1986.
Olivier Klein was also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Doctoral School in Management Sciences at HEC – Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris I) between 1995 and 2005 and a member of the Board of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon in 2007-2008.

BRED’s prizes and awards

  • The BRED Group’s trading room has been awarded 3 CMDportal Money Markets Awards. December 2022.
    🏆 Best European Money Market Dealer
    🏆 Best NEU CP Money Market Dealer
    🏆 Best Corporate Money Market Dealer
  • BRED awarded an A1 sustainability rating by Moody’s ESG Solutions, reflecting the high level of quality of the ESG (environment, social, governance) performance of the commercial bank in France (mainland and overseas departments) – 2022
  • BRED Banque Privée elected “Best Private Bank” in France by the Sommet du Patrimoine et de la Performance – 2022
  • BRED’s subsidiary in Laos named Best Corporate Bank in Laos by the International Business Magazine Awards – 2021
  • BRED’s Individual Retirement Savings Plan (PERI), produced by its subsidiary PREPAR-VIE, recognised as the best bank PERI on the market by Mieux vivre votre argent magazine – 2021
  • With its subsidiary PREPAR-VIE, BRED has once again been awarded the Label of Excellence for its loan insurance offer – 2021
  • BRED is among the 39 European banks and among the 5 French banks selected by the European Commission to place its bond issues – 2021