The combined asset management operations of Crédit Agricole and Crédit Lyonnais have emerged as the main winners in the first stage of selecting managers for France's €16bn Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR).

Crédit Lyonnais alone obtained firm mandates for €1.2bn of funds and Crédit Agricole, the mutual bank which owns it, was awarded a stand-by mandate for another €960m.