by Julien Ponthus
LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) – Frédéric Oudéa, the now outgoing chief executive of Societe Generale, supports an internal search for his successor, a union leader at the bank said after a meeting with him.
Arrived in 2008 at the head of the third listed French bank, Frédéric Oudéa took shareholders and employees of the group by surprise by announcing Tuesday, during the annual general meeting, that he would leave office in a year. .
Philippe Fournil, CGT delegate of the group, who met Frédéric Oudéa on Wednesday, reports in a post published Thursday on the union’s website, that the name of the next general manager could be “identified and announced within six months”, which would open a six-month transition period as well.
“While emphasizing that this choice would be up to the Board of Directors, Frédéric Oudéa insisted on the quality of the management team in place and its intimate knowledge of the company”, he adds. “So he’s leaning towards an internal choice even though the process won’t close any options.”
The new general manager should come from a generation aged 45 to 50, he continues in this report of his meeting.
A spokeswoman for Société Générale declined to comment on the information.
Citi analyst Azzurra Guelfi said in a note that it is “clearly too early to have an idea of potential candidates for the position” but added that the market should logically consider the possibility of internal and external candidates.
Speculation on the name of the future boss of “SocGen” is therefore only beginning, but several names are already regularly mentioned, including that of Sébastien Proto, deputy general manager of the group in charge of networks and former managing partner of Rothschild & Co.
Among the other possible candidates, report for their part Les Echos, include Gaëlle Olivier, deputy general manager in charge of operations, and Slawomir Krupa, deputy CEO in charge of wholesale banking activities and investor solutions.
Outside the group, the name of Jean-Pierre Mustier, who headed the corporate and investment banking (CIB) division of Société Générale from 2003 until the “Kerviel” scandal in 2008, before heading the Italian group UniCredit, is also cited.
(Report Julien Ponthus, French version Marc Angrand, edited by Matthieu Protard)