By Claudia Cohen | Updated on Jun 10, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Credit Agricole SA Chief Executive Officer Olivier Gavalda is trying to temper worries related to artificial intelligence in the banking sector, as many executives have said implementing such technology will lead to workforce reductions.
“We must put an end to this anxiety-inducing opposition between humans and AI, as we heard these past few weeks,” Gavalda said during a press conference on Wednesday. “It is the combination of the two that will drive performance.”
Credit Agricole announced on Wednesday a three-year plan to spend €500 million ($578 million) on AI throughout the bank. The investment is part of its information technology budget, which totals about €5.7 billion annually. The CEO said the Paris-based lender has no plans to cut back on hiring at this stage.
“We are keeping the same hiring plan for entry-level positions,” he said.
Many banks have announced plans to cut jobs in recent months, as they prepare to implement AI to make tasks faster and more efficient. But Gavalda warned not to make too many assumptions about how such technology would affect the bank in the near term.
Read More: Banks Lay Groundwork for Mass Workforce Cuts as AI Takes Hold
“It might reshape many roles and even eliminate certain professions,” Gavalda said. “But we must remain humble, as the level of impact AI will have on our productivity remains to be seen.”
About €150 million of the bank’s investment will be used to create an AI company at the Credit Agricole group level.
The bank is also “increasing capacity of our own infrastructure and data centers, which will allow us to control sensitive and strategic data but also to maintain costs over the long term,” Gavalda said.
Credit Agricole said it’s working with various tech providers, such as Paris-based Mistral AI. The bank will in the coming months unveil specific use cases for AI on support functions, know-your-customer processes or within its retail unit and commercial and investment banking.