Economy. Meeting with Antoine Saintoyant, the banker of our regions

You'll hear about it in the fall: a major plan for mountain ranges, which will bring together all stakeholders to address climate change and its consequences. Starting with the reconversion of certain ski resorts, of course, which involves, for example, aid for the dismantling of ski lifts, or the modification of housing. Or the maintenance of bridges and roads, threatened by landslides...

28 billion in loans

The plan's conductor will be the Banque des Territoires, a subsidiary of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) . A "general interest bank serving territorial stakeholders, including local authorities and the entire social housing sector, to develop the country's infrastructure," summarizes its new director, Antoine Saintoyant. Concretely, this means more than €28 billion in loans to local authorities (in 2024), plus €1.5 billion in capital investment in regional projects, and finally €250 million in subsidies to local authorities for the engineering of their projects - "often the trigger for investment decisions," explains Bernard Saintoyant.

Among the programs already underway are Action Cœur de ville, Petites Villes de demain, Villages d'avenir, and so on. In this vein, Antoine Saintoyant is working on a report on urban commerce for September with Système U CEO Dominique Schelcher and the mayor of Saint-Quentin (Aisne). Possible options include giving mayors more power to influence the allocation of premises, or providing assistance with commercial management.

Appointed on June 19th as head of the Banque des Territoires, Antoine Saintoyant, born almost 48 years ago in Paris, is a graduate of Sciences Po (Paris, of course) and the ENA, and a former Bercy (Treasury Directorate)—not exactly the right profile to be interested in the regions. But he claims to be "from the Jura," specifically from Bonlieu, near the Hérisson waterfalls, the family cradle to which he regularly returns. And his in-laws are German, from Franconia, his four children Franco-German, which allows him to think beyond the Paris ring road.

The importance of cohesion

Antoine Saintoyant was primarily Prime Minister Édouard Philippe 's economic advisor in the fall of 2018, during the Yellow Vest crisis. At the root of the revolt, he recalls, was "the carbon tax experienced as a measure decided by Parisians who did not take their cars, to the detriment of rural areas where car use is much more significant." And this in the context of "the first years of Emmanuel Macron 's five-year term, where we were moving towards a two-speed territory, with winners and losers from globalization, against a backdrop of trickle-down theories."

The lesson he learned from this is the importance of regional planning: "Territorial cohesion means that tomorrow there will be no more yellow vests." That's good, because that's precisely the mission of his Banque des Territoires.