New chairman for SME bank

The French state-controlled bank for SMEs has appointed as chairman, Jean-Pierre Denis, former head of Dalkier, a subsidiary of French environmental services group Veolia.

Bankruptcy law reform moves forward

According to the French ministry for justice, 59,000 French businesses had difficulties in 2002 leading them to appear in the commercial courts.

Coface interim turnover rises

Coface, the French credit insurance company, has posted an 11.5% hike in consolidated turnover, to Ђ551.5m, for the first half of 2003. On a like-for-like basis, the rate of growth was 5.9%.