In late February, Société Générale revealed plans to sell its subsidiaries in the Republic of North Macedonia and Montenegro to OTP. The announcement marked the end of a three-year process that has seen the French group exit nine markets in central and eastern Europe.
That leaves the bank with three operations in the region: Komercni Banka in Czech Republic and BRD in Romania – both of which rank third by assets in their respective markets – and Rosbank in Russia.
The three subsidiaries are under the aegis of Philippe Heim, Société Générale’s former CFO, who last year was appointed deputy chief executive with responsibility for international operations.
He is upbeat on the outlook for emerging Europe.
“Economic conditions are pretty good across the board,” he says. “GDP growth in Czech Republic and Romania has moderated slightly from the highs of 2017 but is still around 3%, while the normalization of the Czech interest rate curve means margins are increasing at a double-digit rate.
