A subsidiary of French banking group Société Générale has launched a new supply chain finance platform designed to enable large companies to provide much-needed financing support to their small and medium-sized suppliers.

The French bank adds more than 80 private bankers and closes the gap with BNP Paribas on asset under management.

Leads the way with low-trigger temporary write-down deal; Regulators will push banks to issue

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Make love not (currency) war, courtesy of Société Générale's new "sexy" currency index, based on economic growth, interest rates and the current account balances.

Shocked by the sudden withdrawal of short-term dollar funding from US money-market funds 18 months ago, Société Générale has moved quickly to rein in businesses that depended on it, especially in the US and Asia, and to concentrate scarce resources on its European clients. It has also reoriented the financing business inside a corporate and investment bank that accounts for roughly one-third of the whole group’s allocated equity and a similar portion of its profits. Is that the right size to avoid undue pressure from regulators and investors?

A risk-aware strategy has allowed Société Générale’s operations in central and eastern Europe to perform relatively well overall since 2008. But its portfolio is a mix of good and bad, big and small businesses. And after the eurozone crisis, does the French bank have what it takes to achieve its ambitions in the region?

Société Générale has reorganized its global markets business by merging four separate units into one business called fixed income and currencies (FIC), which sees several of its corporate FX salespeople being promoted to senior roles under the new structure.

Two former FX option traders were awarded damages for unfair dismissal by Société Générale in a French employment court on Monday.

With deals still hard to come by, what can investment bankers do when they have nothing to do? And what was behind Michel Peretié’s sudden departure from SocGen?

Euromoney exclusively reports on the bank’s plans to expand its presence in emerging markets through partnership deals with other financials

As concerns grow over French bank sovereign debt holdings, Moody’s cuts Société Générale and Crédit Agricole’s credit ratings – to no surprise from the market.

After stock collapses, bank talks up asset quality; Says profit warning reflects tougher outlook

SG’s market-leading equity derivatives franchise and reduction of internal silos allows it to lead the rest.

Bank has had good results by sticking to its derivatives skills; Michel Péretié, head of CIB, is seeing first fruits of investment in M&A advisory

Barely a week goes by without a bank or ECN launching or upgrading a platform, so we weren’t cock-a-hoop when the news that Societe Generale had launched an FX single-dealer platform landed on our desks last week.

The trickle of Q3 results continues with interim numbers released by Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Lloyds and, late in the week, RBS.

BNP Paribas and Société Générale both broke into the top six of banks catering for non-financial institutions in this year’s FX survey. Trevor Carr reports.

Builds out onshore presence in markets; Focuses on project finance, lending in banking

There are obviously legal sensitivities involved, but until SocGen clarifies why it suspended two senior FX staff, especially if no losses occurred, the departures will remain the subject of speculation – and some of that will be wrong.

Global head of spot and option trading, head of structuring Europe and Asia, are both asked to leave.

SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE: SG’s equity derivatives business has bounced back from l’affaire Kerviel with new controls in place and a renaissance of its legendary inventiveness

When it comes to listing the leading international banking groups that operate in central and eastern Europe, the names that immediately spring to mind are such banks as RZB and Erste Bank from Austria or Italy’s UniCredit or Intesa SanPaolo. But France’s Société Générale can also justifiably lay claim to being one of the leaders of the emerging European banking pack through its ownership of household names throughout the region – including Splitska Banka in Croatia, Komercni Banka in the Czech Republic, BRD in Romania, Rosbank in Russia and SKB Banka in Slovenia. In addition to these big players, it owns banks in Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Macedonia and Moldova. Altogether the bank has 17 subsidiaries with more than 2,800 branches in the region, which serve more than 10 million customers. Central and eastern Europe accounts for 75% of Société Générale’s net business income from its international retail banking operations. Concerns about the short-term economic health of the region notwithstanding, Jean-Louis Mattei, head of international retail banking, says: "We are focusing on managing our overheads but are also preparing for any rebound – there’s still a lot of room for development in the region."

The chief executives of 11 of the world's biggest banks discuss the lessons they have learnt from the global financial crisis, their concerns over a regulatory backlash, and how they plan to rebuild profitability in the toughest markets in history.

A merger of BNP Paribas and Société Générale would be difficult to fund and to execute.

It is inconceivable that SocGen would have been able to rack up such a huge position and loss in a bilateral, OTC market because it would have inevitably filled many of its credit lines.

Daniel Bouton of Société Générale, Baudouin Prot of BNP Paribas, Walter Rothensteiner of Raiffeisen Zentralbank and Alfredo Sáenz of Santander speak about the challenges in the new financial world order.

It was off on Tuesday evening to Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking’s winter press party, which the bank has far too much class to call its Christmas bash.

Rapid growth of its flow business has facilitated the development of SG’s traditional complex products expertise.

While writing this column I have met many interesting people. I have also met many delightful people. However, I have not met anyone more delightful and interesting than Jean-Pierre Mustier, the chief executive officer of Société Générale’s corporate and investment bank.