The succession process at the head of La Banque Postale, the banking and insurance subsidiary of La Poste, was beginning to drag on; it now seems to be getting closer to its outcome. As revealed Le Figaro Thursday October 5, Stéphane Dedeyan, current general manager of CNP Assurances and interim president of the Postal Bank for a little over two months after the unexpected departure of Philippe Heim, could soon be officially appointed at the head of the company.
The group chaired by Philippe Wahl “makes no comment on the current recruitment process”. But the scenario now seems to be becoming clearer, with two steps to take: the European Central Bank (ECB), which supervises all major European banks, must give the green light, and the supervisory board of La Poste must ratify the recommendation of the nominations committee. Barring any surprises, the process could be completed in two or three weeks, a little month behind the deadline mentioned in August.
After starting out in business consulting, Mr. Dedeyan, 57, spent most of his career in insurance, notably at Generali and VYV, which includes Harmonie Mutuelle and MGEN, among others, before taking the helm. general management of CNP Assurances in April 2021. Then listed on the stock exchange, CNP has since become a 100% subsidiary of La Banque Postale, following a public purchase offer (OPA) completed in June 2022 as part of the “Mandarine project” which aimed to build a European-sized “bancassurance” group.
Announcement that surprised
The choice of Mr. Dedeyan for the interim presidency of the management board of La Banque Postale was logical since he joined the management board in October 2022 and already sat on the bank’s executive committee. If he was initially reluctant to take the position permanently, it seems that he finally let himself be convinced both by Mr. Wahl and by the two public shareholders, the Caisse des Dépôts (66% of the capital) and the State (34%).
The announcement on August 2 of the departure of Philippe Heim, officially “to devote ourselves to new development projects in responsible finance”was especially surprising as he arrived in 2020 from Société Générale, and was confirmed in February as head of La Banque Postale, in principle for five years.
But only a few hours before, the supervisory board had validated results marked, certainly, by an increase of 44.2% over one year in profit in the first half, to 580 million euros, thanks mainly to the contribution of the activities of insurance with the integration of CNP, but also by a 52.2% drop in profits of the corporate and investment banking branch, whose development Mr. Heim had led in recent years.
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