The French banking giant is stocking its management in China with several investment bankers. The move illustrates Société Générale's ambition to win more business from Chinese corporates.
Société Générale named Pierre-Yves Bonnet as its country head for China, effective last month, the French bank said in a statement. Based in Beijing, he replaces Anne Marion-Bouchacourt, who has run SocGen in China since 2012.
The Paris-based bank also named Hugues de La Marnierre as its CEO in China, meaning he will manage and develop corporate and investment banking in the country. De La Marnierre will help boost SocGen's franchise in China as well as chaperone Chinese clients abroad.
China Ambitions
Both Bonnet and de La Marnierre are investment banking veterans, and their appointments translate to a declaration of SocGen's ambitions in China. Bonnet is a 17-year veteran who has run SocGen's financial institutions group – or coverage, capital structuring, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions – since it was conceived six years ago.
De la Marnierre (pictured below) is a former derivatives trader and nine-year SocGen veteran who currently runs Swiss corporate and investment banking and is country head in Switzerland.
Exiting Wealth Management
The investment banking push contrasts with SocGen's retreat from private banking in Asia. The French bank threw in the towel and sold to Singapore bank DBS four years ago. Overall private banking head Jean-Francois Mazaud told finews.asia last year where the bank is hunting for wealth management business, instead of Asia.
Marion-Bouchacourt, one of the 62 top executives of SocGen, is now moving closer to home, as country head in Switzerland. Her replacement, Bonnet, will report to SocGen's CEO for Asia Pacific, Hikaru Ogata. De La Marnierre, also based in Beijing and who will take the job when regulators approve the move, in turn reports to Bonnet.
