(Updated with sources, context)
Société Générale SOGN.PA, France’s third-largest bank by capitalization, is preparing to cut around 900 jobs in France, two sources familiar with the matter said, as its chief executive Slawomir Krupa seeks to cut costs to boost profits.
The job cuts will mainly concern IT support and other central group functions at the lender’s headquarters in the La Défense business district, the sources said.
They will be done through voluntary departures, added the sources, who requested anonymity because the reduction in workforce has not yet been announced.
The business daily Les Echos, which published the information earlier in the day, reported that announcements should be made internally on Monday.
The exact number of job cuts will be between 900 and 1,000, which represents less than 2% of the total workforce in France, one of the sources said.
Société Générale, which refused to comment on the information, employs 112,000 employees worldwide, including 52,000 in France, according to its latest half-yearly report.
The bank is due to publish its financial accounts for 2023 on February 8.
Responsible for reviving the group’s share price and profitability, Slawomir Krupa
announced
to investors last September that it was targeting gross cost savings of around 1.7 billion euros by 2026, including 40% new savings.
(Report by Mathieu Rosemain, with Michel Rose and Jean-Stéphane Brosse, French version Kate Entringer)