“It ticks all the boxes.” Whether they are elected officials, economists, former collaborators, big bosses or close friends, almost all of them surprisingly uttered the same sentence when we asked them to comment on the recent appointment of Eric Lombard at the head of a large Bercy. After seven years spent running the Caisse des Dépôts – a record for longevity since Robert Lion’s mandate in the 1980s – this former banker has just been promoted to Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial Sovereignty and digital. A consecration for this finance specialist who claims to be left-wing and defines himself as an eternal Rocardian. Last summer, his name was circulated for a while for Matignon.
His new position, both coveted and feared in view of the current situation, Eric Lombard owes a lot to his successful mandate as general manager of the bicentennial financial institution. When Emmanuel Macron appointed him in 2017 to take over from Pierre-René Lemas, he nevertheless had everything to prove. His profile stands out and a tradition is broken: unlike his predecessors, the new boss of the armed wing of the State did not go through the ENA. But Eric Lombard has other arguments to make. “He has a balanced career, between a brilliant professional career in a company focused on finance and a constant interest in public affairs, particularly on a social and environmental level,” says Bernard Spitz, his high school friend and former president. of the French Federation of Insurance Companies.
Ministerial advisor to Michel Sapin between 1991 and 1993, Eric Lombard never lost sight of the general interest. A pure product of the bank during his first years at BNP Paribas, he set foot in the world of insurance at Cardif before leaving for Generali France. “This dual experience of banking and insurance allows him to understand balance sheets, financial mechanisms and the effects they can produce,” says Marie-Claire Capobianco, member of the Caisse des Dépôts supervisory commission – composed of parliamentarians and qualified personalities – who worked alongside Eric Lombard on the executive committee of BNP Paribas. A detailed knowledge of the economy is welcome at a time when the French case – with a deficit expected at more than 6% in 2024 and a debt that never stops slipping away – is in the sights of the markets. “If there is a minister like Elisabeth Borne capable of saying that she knows nothing about education, on the contrary, we can be pleased that Eric has all the skills to be Minister of Finance” , mocks the manager of one of the subsidiaries of the Caisse des Dépôts.
A proven managerial method
However, will he have free rein at Bercy as was the case within the “old lady”? As soon as he arrived at Rue de Lille, Eric Lombard was able to put into practice a method that bore fruit during his years in the private sector. “The height of view and the confidence that he inspires, with an authority that is both benevolent and demanding, while being very accessible, immediately struck me,” says Olivier Sichel, who has just been appointed interim general director of Caisse des Dépôts, after having been his deputy for seven years. This enarque even speaks of a “managerial model” with “very broad delegation and accountability with a lot of trust, and also fairly frequent checkpoints. As there is a lot of listening and ease of access, the sharing information is easy, even when it comes to difficulties. For economist Emmanuelle Auriol, appointed a little over a year and a half ago as a member of the Caisse des Dépôts supervisory commission, “he is also a leader who is extremely concerned about equality between men and women. This creates a climate of respect. He knows how to surround himself and value the people around him. That’s what you expect from a captain on board.”
Because the Caisse de Dépôts is a hydra where more than twenty entities coexist, some of which have several thousand employees like La Poste or BPI France. “His interpersonal skills and his ability to listen meant that he was able to manage notable personalities at Caisse des Dépôts such as Nicolas Dufourcq (BPI France) and Philippe Wahl (La Poste) in a very human manner,” describes Marie Claire Capobianco . Upon his arrival, Eric Lombard did not disrupt the established order and left a certain freedom to the various leaders of the group. “We have a cooperative mode of operation. Some bosses consider that internal competition is healthy. We have advocated a very clear sharing of roles between the different entities,” explains Olivier Sichel.
Modernization of the Fund
On the other hand, the Caisse des Dépôts will experience its little revolution. Shake up, while reducing your expenses. It was, in a way, the road map that the Head of State had set for him to develop the institution towards more modernity. Eric Lombard doesn’t wait before showing off. Less than six months after his appointment in December 2017, he announced the creation of the Banque des Territoires. The new brand is implemented in his office with Olivier Sichel and a handful of colleagues. This entity has since become a benchmark for long-term financing of projects by territorial stakeholders such as communities and businesses. “We underestimate what it brings to the country. It transforms our territories. It’s a directory of beautiful stories,” assures Nicolas Dufourcq. The general director of BPI, a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts, assures that no other bank is capable of achieving what the Banque des Territories does on a daily basis. “It’s social engineering. It takes countless meetings, convincing the elected official, the merchant, the hotelier.”
Another major project that Eric Lombard is tackling: the merger in 2018 between CNP Assurances and La Banque Postale. Code name: Operation Mandarin. “He was a key player. It was a subject that was widely discussed within the Caisse des Dépôts itself. As he knows the world of insurance, he immediately understood that the insurance model CNP was vulnerable without its own distribution network,” comments La Poste. “Operation Mandarine was a Gordian knot. We started from a Byzantine subject of co-control of the CNP. We turned the table over. Eric Lombard had a very direct and revolutionary approach”, adds Olivier Sichel. The postal services operator was then in great difficulty, its distribution branch being largely loss-making, it was necessary to diversify its activities in order to compensate for the massive losses.
Difficult to change
As with each new movement, the general director of the Caisse des Dépôts sets a course. And when a strategic decision is made, it often proves impossible to change their mind. “When he has decided on an option, it is very difficult to change. He always seeks to find a social justification, even if it is antisocial,” says Jean-Philippe Gasparotto, CGT general secretary at the Caisse. As when Eric Lombard signed in 2023 the sale of the Courchevel chalet – owned by the public establishment and made available to its employees – for 64 million euros to an investment fund. “His first argument was: it was not good for the Caisse agents. Life is too expensive in this station,” relates the trade unionist who highlights a form of contradiction in his former boss. “He publicly pleads to restore a better balance in the distribution of capital income, but he does almost the opposite at the Caisse des Dépôts. He must also respect market values. Ultimately, it is the second item who wins.”
During his inauguration speech, the new tenant of Bercy declared that “too many of our fellow citizens have insufficient income to live with dignity and here we must work for a better distribution of income, increase in the same movements, the quantity of work and also social justice. Principles that he did not always apply. As in 2019. Eric Lombard then chose not to renew the fixed-term contracts of young employees of the public group. “There was a budget overrun, partly due to the supervisory authorities. It took a big swing. The first to suffer were the young people. This shocked us collectively,” recalls Patrick Borel, secretary of the Committee. joint information and consultation and CFDT union delegate.
With the unions, relations will have been cordial. “He was not the boss who played the most in the theater with us. He always honored the appointments,” continues Patrick Borel. Most greeted the takeover of Orpeain December 2023, by a group led by the Caisse des Dépôts. The nursing home group has just emerged from an unprecedented crisis after the publication of the book. The Gravediggers by Victor Castanet who revealed cases of mistreatment of residents and a frantic race for profitability. Once again, Eric Lombard played a fundamental role in the operation. “It’s proof of his courage. He was very early interested in what Orpea was, even though the group’s reputation was not the best. The team had certainly been changed, but the past history was still recent. He put all his weight in the balance to convince the supervisory commission of the Caisse des Dépôts to give its agreement”, recalls Laurent Guillot, CEO of Emeis – formerly Orpea – since 2022.
The budget, his next challenge
Eric Lombard significantly developed the Caisse’s investment portfolio during his mandate. Soon, one of the main French public transport groups, Transdev, will go under a private flag. In 2021, the financial institution sold 42% of the engineering company Egis to the Tikehau fund. “He always had a financial vision,” regrets Patrick Borel. With convincing results: in 2023, the public group generated a net profit of 3.9 billion euros, compared to 1.9 billion euros in 2017. “This is not an example of economy, however nuance a member of the Finance Commission of the National Assembly The Caisse des Dépôts is a unique institution. It is a somewhat different model. No one has awarded it the gold medal for internal management. not say that It’s a special performance.”
With hindsight, many agree that Eric Lombard will have succeeded in modernizing the Fund. “It has never been so well. In seven years, he will have been the greatest general manager since Robert Lion. If we compare him to Pierre-René Lemas, there is no comparison, while Jean-Pierre Jouyet was not made for the job. “We need business people, they can’t be prefects,” judges one of the group’s leaders.
Now the state’s chief financier, Eric Lombard will have to tackle a much more complex task: putting together a budget by mid-February. “He is going to be a fantastic Minister of Finance. He is an excellent technician and absolutely not a demagogue. He is incredibly prepared,” wants to believe Nicolas Dufourcq of BPI France. Not everything will depend on him. The previous censorship of the Barnier government showed this: political disagreements often take precedence over substance. “He has the profile to reassure the markets, even if they will judge on actions. To succeed, he will need to have sufficient means and negotiate with the political forces present,” anticipates his friend Bernard Spitz. As for Bercy, the adaptation should be express. And for good reason. “He is an observer of political life, he knows the actors very well. He is in permanent contact with the Ministry of the Economy. The fund and the State have daily reports on public policies”, recalls Jean- René Cazeneuve, chairman of the Caisse des Dépôts supervisory commission. According to him, it will take “an alignment of the political planets” so that a budget is completed on time. A consensus that we will have to seek, at the risk of not making old bones.