EuroBusiness Media (EBM): Societe Generale, one of the largest European financial services groups, reports full-year results for 2022. Frédéric Oudéa, hello and welcome.
Frédéric Oudéa: Hello, thank you.
EBM: You are the CEO of Societe Generale, how did the group perform over the last quarter, and more generally, over the year 2022?
Frédéric Oudéa: The fourth quarter is the tenth quarter in a row of strong performances of our businesses and it concludes a very successful and intense 2022 year. We have been able to post very strong performances for the full year in all our businesses, with a strong growth of our revenues. We were able to control our costs, so we have progress in our operational efficiency. The cost of risk stayed at a low level, 28 basis points in the fourth quarter as well as for the full year. That reflects the good quality of the credit portfolio with still a prudent provisioning. And all in all, we are posting a record underlying net profit of €5.6 billion for the year. We have of course in the published results the impact of the disposal of Russia, our subsidiary in Russia. We were able to adapt quickly to this extraordinary volatile geopolitical environment. And we are presenting a very strong balance sheet with a strong core tier 1 ratio and again, a lot of hard work to build very robust foundations during the year in 2022 for the bank.
EBM: So how did your various businesses perform?
Frédéric Oudéa: Let’s start with French Retail: good commercial dynamism, good commercial performance. Commissions which are growing, of course still the impact in the net interest margin of the specificities of the French market in such a specific environment where interest rates are going up very quickly, very brutally. We have the negative impact of certain mechanisms which are specific to French retail. We have pursued the merger of our two French networks, so it was a very intense year for our staff. In International Retail, we benefit much more from the increase in interest rates in Central Eastern Europe, so very strong performances. As well as in Africa where the economies did pretty well and we are growing and we have profitable growth. We had spectacular record results in our Mobility business which grows and on top of that still benefits from this extraordinary situation on the used car market where we can sell in a profitable way used cars. We had also very strong results in Insurance and Leasing. Eventually, for our Wholesale businesses, both markets and financing, very strong performances in the fourth quarter, very strong performances for the full year. In Global Markets, we grew from a commercial perspective and on top of that we managed very well the risk attached to this uncertain and volatile market environment. On the Financing, we had also very strong performances on the back of our very strong expertise in Infrastructure Finance, in Renewable Finance, and in the capacity to accompany our clients in their own journey, both with Advisory businesses and Financing. We’ve also very strong performances of our Cash Management businesses. So I would like to thank all our teams for the extraordinary performances and the hard work of 2022 in, as we all know, a difficult overall environment.
EBM: Finally, could you elaborate on the progress made with your strategic initiatives, and what are your priorities and prospects for 2023?
Frédéric Oudéa: On top of all this hard work on our businesses, it’s fair to say we also made very strong progress and had great achievements in a series of very important strategic projects. First, the merger of our two French Retail networks in our domestic market. The new bank, SG, exists on the 1st of January 2023 from a legal perspective. It’s a reality. Now, we just have to complete the IT migration which will take place in the first half to have this new bank up and running. Regarding Boursorama, fantastic growth this year, of course we’ve also the partnership with ING, we have conquered clients from ING. 1.4 million new clients, a record figure, 4.7 million at the end of 2022, a fantastic growth engine. Beyond these projects, we are building world leaders in the mobility sector with the project for ALD to buy LeasePlan. We had key and successful milestones in 2022. We announced, at the end of 2022, a joint-venture with AllianceBernstein to create a platform, an equity research platform, which will cover more than 1000 corporates, and which will enable us to deal with investors and companies and be a very important leader in this business. So, a lot of projects which will deliver fruits and will help us to grow in the coming years. Beyond those specific projects needless to say very strong attention on everything regarding CSR, the climate challenge and the energy transition. We raised our ambitions in terms of switching the portfolio, reducing our footprint in the fossil energy sector. We were able again to accompany our clients in their own trajectory. There was also a very strong progress in the training of our staff, which is very important and that we will pursue going forward. So, a very intense year which makes us confident going forward and we’ve confirmed our objectives for 2025 on the back of all these developments. We will reap the fruits of these different integrations and the creation of these platforms. Knowing that 2023 is a year of transition, of course from a governance perspective, Slawomir Krupa will take over me as the CEO of Societe Generale at the end of May this year. We want to complete certain of these projects in the very few coming months, I dedicate a lot of energy to this. And, of course, from a financial perspective, we are still going to suffer from certain negative impacts in the French market based on the specific mechanisms, for example, on regulated savings with this increase in interest rates. And, it will be the last year, for example, of our contribution to the constitution of the European Single Resolution Fund which weighed so much on our profitability. So next year the Fund is there and we will have a much better position from that perspective. So, 2023 is a year of transition, we are embarking on this year with determination and confidence with our perspective in the mid-term.
EBM: Frédéric Oudéa, thank you.
Frédéric Oudéa: You’re welcome.
