Transform to woe?

29 March 2018 By Christopher Thompson Follow @CGAThompson

The French lender says it is close to settling with U.S. regulators over investigations relating to Libya and Libor. A sanctions-busting probe could pose a sterner test, though. Any fine above 1.8 bln euros could threaten SocGen’s capital target – and put pressure on dividends.

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Société Générale said on March 19 it had entered into a phase of “more active discussion” with U.S. authorities regarding its submissions for the London interbank offered rate, as well as a Department of Justice investigation of transactions involving Libyan counterparties.

On March 14 SocGen announced that Didier Valet, deputy chief executive, was leaving the French bank over “a divergence of approaches regarding management of a specific legal matter”.

The sudden departure was agreed as part of negotiations with U.S. authorities on a financial settlement over alleged rigging of Libor, Reuters reported on March 15, citing an unnamed source close to the bank.

SocGen’s provisions for litigation issues totalled 2.3 billion euros at the end of 2017.

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