As HSBC retrenches from domestic business on the continent, BNP Paribas steps up its ambition in Europe’s biggest economy – focusing largely on the family-owned Mittelstand.

Its acquisition of the Belgian private bank and asset manager offers Indosuez a chance to bulk up fast in key European markets. Its chief executive Jacques Prost sits down… erm, stands up with Euromoney to discuss the firm’s future.

Buying Axa IM would be BNP Paribas chief executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafé’s biggest acquisition. It has been a long time in the making.

France’s political and banking troubles obscure good momentum in Societe Generale’s corporate and investment bank. Yes, capital is constrained, but the bank says it is moving in the right direction.

The region’s tough economic history, coupled with its strength in soft and hard commodities, makes it best positioned to tackle today’s challenges.

With corporates taking a more holistic view of sustainability, banks are under pressure to address concerns over reporting and verification requirements for sustainable working capital, trade finance and liquidity management products.

Risk aversion has spread quickly since the call for a snap election in France, from French government bonds, through bank stocks and CDS spreads to now derail the IPO of an Italian maker of luxury trainers.

There are sensible elements to CEO Slawomir Krupa’s plans for Societe Generale, but their communication needs attention.

Investors and staff at Societe Generale are slowly starting to understand chief executive Slawomir Krupa’s brutally honest approach to the bank’s many challenges. Taking them with him as he embarks on his restructuring plan may prove a more delicate task.

After overseeing radical transformations at Bawag and Hamburg Commercial Bank, Cerberus Capital Management now has ultimate control of HSBC’s French retail bank. Former UniCredit banker Niccolò Ubertalli is running the new business, and reveals a very different strategy to the private equity company’s German-speaking antecedents in European banking.

Many corporates are realising the benefits of intercompany netting on FX risk, trading and cash-flow visibility.

Euromoney talks to Jacques Levet, chief digital officer at BNP Paribas, about the competitive advantage that newly acquired FX fintech Kantox offers.

Slawomir Krupa may yet turn around Societe Generale. But it won’t be by shock and awe.

Despite tweaks to improve efficiency, Societe Generale’s new strategy has received a lukewarm reception. New CEO Slawomir Krupa has lifted the capital target, but revenues will remain flat, and there is a lack of news on asset sales.

The French investment bank is taking a bet on a double-edged blockchain technology to stay ahead of both the tokenization and sustainability trends.

On December 1, EU member states agreed on a general approach for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. The final text shields banks from their full responsibility to prevent environmental harm, thanks in part to France’s post-Brexit ambitions.

Societe Generale and AllianceBernstein may look like an equities odd couple. Leveraging Societe Generale’s derivatives franchise is key to the new joint venture, as is maintaining AllianceBernstein’s reputation for independence.

The French bank has continued its string of direct investments in fintechs this year and is looking for more with VC fund Anthemis.

Societe Generale’s choice of Slawomir Krupa to succeed Frédéric Oudéa suggests an approach of riding out the storm and continuing elements of Oudéa’s recent strategy, rather than any radical change.

BNP Paribas’s top private banker talks to Euromoney about his love of Brittany’s rough seas, the power of ESG, and digital’s ability to transform and improve every step of the client journey.

If the French company cuts greenhouse gas emissions, it will use savings on loan margin to finance sustainability projects: if it doesn’t, its banks will fund them.

Crédit Agricole’s purchase of a 9.18% in Banco BPM could have benefits, even if it doesn’t presage a full takeover.

SocGen’s deal to sell Russian lender Rosbank back to Vladimir Potanin’s Interros Capital is painful, but could help it to move on from the war in Ukraine.

Early in the Covid crisis, CACIB avoided the big equity derivatives losses its local rivals suffered. Chief executive Jacques Ripoll tells Euromoney how the bank plans to take advantage of the rise of sustainable finance, which plays to its long-standing expertise in infrastructure and energy.

Nicolas Cailly, head of payments and cash management at Societe Generale, is responsible for growing the French bank’s cash-management franchise. He tells Euromoney why the bank’s new treasury offering is a step forward for TMS implementation.

As legacy banks plough billions into fintech, their valuations – especially compared to standalone fintech players – are far from seeing the desired benefit. Spin-offs and subsidiary IPOs are part of a growing push to make these fintech investments more independent and visible, and to force a sum-of-parts valuation. Is the answer to restructure into a listed financial holding company, of which the legacy bank would just be one part?

LeasePlan’s absorption by Societe Generale-owned ALD comes at the same time as rumours of a takeover by SocGen of ING France, potentially adding to digital bank Boursorama’s growth.

BNP Paribas has in effect ruled out using the proceeds of its US retail bank sale on big bank M&A in Europe.

Greater regulatory clarity, and perhaps a sale of Bank of the West, leave the French bank with the happy dilemma of what to do with excess capital.

Being France’s biggest retail bank might not sound as appealing as it once was. But Crédit Agricole’s management is focused on the growing number of additional products it is plugging into the network.