Société Générale, one of the largest banks in France and Europe, has confirmed to the presidency for another four years Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, one of the best known Italian bankers internationally, having been on the board of the ECB. But the news from the French Bank does not stop there and the biggest one is that it will change operational management. After fifteen years, during which – with the support of Bini Smaghi – he put the institute back on track, bent by the Kerviel scandal, next year current CEO Frederick Oudea will step down the chair at the end of the mandate and will leave the group. From 2023 SocGen will therefore have a new CEO, who will work in tandem with the Italian chirman Bini Smaghi.
Socgen has transformed, it has left Russia and is ready for a new path of international M&A
As emphasized The Sun 24 hours, Socgen - which has a market capitalization of around 20 billion euros - is today a very different and much more solid bank than the one Oudea took over from the hands of its predecessor, Daniel Bouton. The bank has faced a complex restructuring and announced a few days ago the divestment of its business in Russia, thus nullifying all the risks deriving from exposure to Moscow. An operation that follows the sale of assets in Eastern Europe in recent years, the reorganization of the international Corporate & Investment Banking division and the rationalization of retail in France with the incorporation of Credit du Nord and the development of the Boursorama digital bank, without forgetting the activity in leasing and car rental services.
Oudea will leave a deeply transformed banking group but – as he notes The sun – it will be up to the new CEO, on whose choice the opinion of the president Bini Smaghi will count in no small way, to design the future of the French bank, which could also grow through a path of aggregations also cross border.
