UPDATE 3-Management reshuffle looms at France's Agricole

By Julien Ponthus PARIS, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Credit Agricole will name Jean-Paul Chifflet as new chief executive of France's largest bank by branches next year, a source within the bank said on Friday, confirming a report on the website of Les Echos. "It's a given," said the source, adding that Chifflet, the 60-year-old vice-president of the board and general manager of a local regional branch, had only very recently been picked. Hours later, the newspaper Le Figaro said on its website that the bank's chairman, Rene Carron, would later step down and make way for Jean-Marie Sander, also an executive from within Credit Agricole. No one at the bank was immediately available to comment. According to the source who confirmed the news on Chifflet, another potential candidate for CEO, Jean-Frederic de Leusse, an associate general manager, lost the race after steep losses at Greek subsidiary Emporiki, which he chairs. Current CEO Georges Pauget, said the choice was not his and was up to the board. "I am dependent of the board. I don't have any opinion to express on the topic," he told France Inter radio in an interview. Les Echos reported that the board of Credit Agricole would meet Nov. 10 to sign off the bank's third-quarter results and formalise the replacement process. Le Figaro said the management moves would be made public that day and gave timetable details. It said that Chifflet would replace Pauget when Agricole presented its annual results in late Febrary 2010, while Carron would step down at the end of his mandate in May 2010, making way for Sander. These details could not be independently confirmed. According to Le Figaro, Sander is currently chairman of the Federation Nationale du Credit Agricole, a body that represents the various regional arms of the bank. "This selection will not change the company's strategy nor its labour policy," Christian Briaud, general secretary of the Sud Credit Agricole Mutuel labour union, said earlier, referring to the impending promotion of Chifflet to CEO. Credit Agricole will report its quarterly results after the market close on Tuesday. Pauget indicated on France Inter that they would be an improvement on the second quarter. Credit Agricole reported net profit of 201 million euros ($299 million) for the second quarter of this year and warned in October that its third-quarter results would be hit by a 500 million-euro writedown. Credit Agricole's share was the top performer on the CAC 40 index with a rise of 3.3 percent, to 14.05 euros, at the close. "It's more to do with what Pauget said on France Inter this morning," said Eric Hazart, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, commenting on the stock rise. (Reporting by Matthieu Protard, Julien Ponthus and Michel Rose, Writing by Lionel Laurent, Editing by Marcel Michelson, Gary Hill) (Writing by Lionel Laurent) ($1=.6722 Euro) Keywords: CREDITAGRICOLE/ ([e-mail]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]; [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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