Alexandre Holroyd’s strategy to win at the head of Caisse des dépôts

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Sound interventions

To initiate this five-year work, the Supervisory Commission has greater decision-making powers since the Pacte law of 2019. But in the history of Caisse des dépôts, the personality and political weight of its chairman has always counted at least as much as the texts framing his role. The shady and sonorous interventions of Henri Emmanuelli, when he felt that the State was using too much in the benefits of the Caisse, thus resounded until the Elysee Palace of François Hollande. Jean-Pierre Balligand had, for his part, been a solid help in supporting the economic policy of Lionel Jospin’s government, from 1997 to 2002. On the other hand, since 2018, the presidency of Sophie Errante, current Loire-Atlantique Renaissance deputy, had not managed to take on this role of spokesperson for the CdC.

Benjamin of the presidents of the Supervisory Commission in an institution whose origins date back to 1816, Alexandre Holroyd, 36, explains from the outset that he does not want to follow in the footsteps of Henri Emmanuelli by engaging in arm wrestling with the State and the government. “We don’t have enough time to engage in ego battles, neither within the Supervisory Commission, between its members, nor with the other institutions of the Republic, explains the elected Macronist to Challenges. The planet does not wait. The restoration of economic sovereignty cannot wait.”

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A strong general management

Wiser and more discreet, the thirty-year-old will however have to win alongside and, sometimes, against Eric Lombard. He has the advantage of a long career in finance (mainly at BNP Paribas) and he already has a five-year term at the head of the Caisse. Above all, like his predecessors in this position, he was legitimized by the President of the Republic in person, since the latter proposes his candidate for the management of the institution.

Under these conditions, the temptation is great for the management to gain significant autonomy in the management of the Fund. Sophie Errante flew into a rage when she discovered that the decisions submitted for deliberation by the Supervisory Board had in fact already been decided and implemented by management. Particularly in terms of the remuneration of the managers of the subsidiaries of the CdC, Icade and Compagnie des Alpes, as revealed by the minutes of the 2022 debates just published.

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This thick document delivered to Parliament also shows that, in the first months of taking office, Alexander Holroyd was above all attached to the organization of the square of the debates – with an “obsessive” schedule, according to the term he uses himself. He pleads for the Commission to behave like the board of directors of a private company. “I am a pointer, he believes. My role is to ensure that consensus can be formed thanks to a good organization of the debates in the appropriate committees or in the plenary committee.” This is how he wanted to discuss in plenary committee precisely the takeover of the Ehpad Orpea group by the Caisse.

Alexandre Holroyd therefore has a fairly modest conception of his role for the time being. On the bottom of the folders, he only leaves his mark in small strokes. He wants the Caisse to allow, through its financial power, to “cross the wall of green investment that is in front of us”. The new savings account created within the framework of the Green Industry Law led by Bruno Le Maire will contribute to this. Alexandre Holroyd adds that he is in favor of expanding the use of funds collected from the Livret A, in particular by directing popular savings towards the relaunch of the nuclear program and towards the thermal renovation of schools – all things wanted by Emmanuel Macron.

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Neither state nor private

“We are in a situation of abundant savings which allows us to initiate these reflections, points out Alexandre Holroyd. However, we must know how to set limits. We are not intended to replace the State, which can grant subsidies thanks to its tax revenues. According to him, the Caisse defines itself in a form of “neither-nor”: its long-term intervention is justified when neither the State nor the private sector can fully satisfy questions of general interest, such as support for the development of retirement homes throughout France.

On financial matters, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board is in his element. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he was already the coordinator of the elected representatives of La République en Marche on the Finance Committee during his first term in the National Assembly. Edouard Philippe had called on him to work on the mobilization of the financial sector for the ecological transition. “It’s still an advantage that the chairman of the Supervisory Commission understands the figures and the financial mechanisms, welcomes a Caisse executive. This has not always been the case during previous mandates.”

A lack of presence in the territories

The other side of the coin for this fort in terms of finance, Alexandre Holroyd, on the other hand, has little ties in the France of the regions and territories. He is elected by French citizens living abroad, with a constituency that stretches from the United Kingdom to Iceland. He was born in Switzerland and educated in London. This while the Caisse des dépôts is one of the main interlocutors of local elected officials, from the financing of social housing to the Action heart of the city program, carried out to revitalize medium-sized municipalities.

To compensate for this problematic gap, Alexandre Holroyd embarked on a year-long tour of France of the Caisse’s establishments. He has visited seven French regions to date and Occitania is scheduled for the start of the school year. All the regions must have been visited before the end of the year, before attacking the Overseas Territories in 2024.