French bank Crédit Agricole on Tuesday said chief executive Georges Pauget will be replaced next year by another Agricole insider and posted third-quarter net profit down 21%, hurt by an impairment charge for its Greek subsidiary Emporiki Bank of Greece.

Pauget has chosen to step down on March 1, 2010, the bank said in a statement. His successor is Jean-Paul Chifflet, corporate secretary of the Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole, the central body of regional banks on which the group is founded.