SocGen names investment bank head Slawomir Krupa as chief executive

Société Générale has picked investment banking head Slawomir Krupa as its next chief executive, turning to a markets specialist to reboot the French lender.

A chronic underperformer on the stock market versus its peers, SocGen is trying to make a clean break from years of restructurings since a rogue trading scandal in 2008. Its outgoing chief executive Frédéric Oudéa will depart next May after 15 years at the helm.

Krupa, who joined the French bank in 1996, originally in its inspection department, beat another internal contender for the job, former Rothschild banker Sébastien Proto. Both were finalists in a process that attracted several external candidates. Ten people were interviewed in total, SocGen chair Lorenzo Bini Smaghi told the Financial Times.

Proto, who was tasked with merging SocGen’s two retail banking networks, a key part of a plan to boost profitability, had a more classical French establishment profile, people who have worked with him said, citing his experience in government and political connections.

But he lacked some of Krupa’s markets experience — one area SocGen is trying to fix as it cuts risk in some areas, after suffering losses in the past, but which is still a key part of the bank’s DNA.

“It’s the ideal profile for SocGen,” said one banker who knows Krupa. “He’ll put the bar high . . . There is low-hanging fruit at SocGen in terms of running the business better, making decisions more quickly.”

Krupa, a Polish-French national, has held regional responsibilities across Europe and the Middle East, senior roles overseeing bond, securitisation and leveraged finance. He was chief executive for the Americas from 2016 to 2021.

Bini Smaghi said Krupa’s experience in dealing with US regulators directly during his time there would stand him in good stead for exchanges with the European Central Bank.

“He’s worked across several areas and had management and profit and loss responsibility for several years,” Smaghi said.

Krupa will take on the bank just as its latest strategy overhaul has begun to show some signs of delivering — notwithstanding a €1.5bn loss in the second quarter due to its exit from Russia, a blow that had accelerated Oudéa’s departure, people close to the matter have said.

SocGen’s retail business and pared-back investment bank — which is now trying to focus more on advising clients on mergers and acquisitions — have posted improved results in recent quarters.

But analysts have long argued that SocGen lacked a real strategic impetus. Since 2008, its faltering share price has left it trailing French rival BNP Paribas in terms of market value. It is now France’s third-biggest listed bank behind BNP and Crédit Agricole.

Other tasks on Krupa’s to-do list will include finalising the €4.9bn acquisition of LeasePlan as part of a push to grow SocGen’s car leasing unit, centred around ALD. The bank is also trying to further develop its French online business, Boursorama.

Additional reporting by Leila Abboud