Societe Generale CEO Frédéric Oudéa said on Saturday on BFM Business that European banks were “extremely solid”, against a backdrop of an emerging banking crisis after several bankruptcies in the United States and the disaster takeover of Credit Suisse.
All European banks today are extremely solid, assured Mr. Ouda on the sidelines of an event organized in Paris by the French association of private companies (Afep).
Banking establishments “make money by supporting their customers and in functioning economies, he continued, they are able to cope with the current uncertain environment.
The bankruptcy of California’s Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10 raised concerns about the soundness of the banking sector on both sides of the Atlantic.
First European victim, Credit Suisse was taken over in disaster by UBS last Sunday for a fraction of its stock market value. The generalization of these two events to an entire sector does not make sense, stressed Mr. Ouda.
No rational explanation for this nervousness
But European banks remain under pressure, especially on the stock market. After a brief lull at the start of the week, banking stocks plunged again on Friday: the Socit Generale share, for example, fell 6.13%, the largest drop in the CAC 40 index. It lost a quarter of its value since March 9, the eve of SVB’s bankruptcy.
I think there is no rationality, no rational explanation for this nervousness in the markets, Mr Ouda said.
Friday, it is the director general of the French Banking Federation (FBF) Maya Atig who assured the Tribune that the French banking system was very solid.
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