Societe Generale sheds British and Swiss private bank arms for £770m

Societe Generale has dumped its British and Swiss private banking divisions for £770million as bosses continue to slim down the business.

France’s third-biggest listed lender has sold off SG Kleinwort Hambros and Societe Generale Private Banking Suisse to Union Bancaire Privee (UBP).

The divisions have around £21billion of assets under management.

It comes as chief executive Slawomir Krupa has pledged to boost profits at the group by cutting costs and shedding parts of the organisation.

Krupa, who is a veteran of Societe Generale, took on the job last year from previous chief executive Frederic Oudea.

In a bid to turn the company’s fortunes around, he recently dumped its equipment finance division, Moroccan bank and other assets in Africa.

It will focus on private banking in France, Luxembourg and Monaco. 

For UBP, the deal increases its assets under management to more than £161billion and boosts its presence in the UK, the Swiss bank said in a separate statement.

But SocGen shares were down 1.7 per cent in Paris. Alongside its European competitors it has struggled to restore profitability since the 2008 financial crisis.

The bank has also suffered from a costly exit from Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Investors were left spooked last week after the company revealed its French retail business’s net interest income – the difference between what banks earn on loans and what they pay out for deposits – was likely to hit £3.3billion in 2024. 

That was £258million less than previously expected.

The company has lost more than a fifth of its value in the past year.

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