Amazement at Societe Generale. The board of directors of the bank dubbed, Friday, September 30, Slawomir Krupa, 48, deputy managing director in charge of wholesale banking, to take over from Frédéric Oudéa, the outgoing managing director. Mr. Krupa will take office on May 24, 2023, at the end of the next general meeting, where he will be proposed as a director.
A major surprise as the position seemed promised to Sébastien Proto, 44, the other internal candidate and above all finance inspector, as were Jacques Mayoux, Marc Viénot, Daniel Bouton and Frédéric Oudéa, to speak only of the latest leaders of the company. The appointment of Mr. Krupa, a graduate of Sciences Po Paris, marks a major break in this line. Added to this is the fact that the future boss, whose family lives in New York, has a Polish passport, in addition to his French identity card.
“It’s a slap in the face for the finance inspection and the promotion of Emmanuel Macron at the ENA who believed that everything was promised to them”launches a regular in circles of power. “We had a difficult choice to make between two excellent profiles, which demonstrates the wealth of talent at Société Générale”, says Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, the president of the bank who led the selection process with Gérard Mestrallet, chairman of the appointments committee. And to add: “Slawomir Krupa has a capacity for vision and leadership and a great understanding of the financial markets. »
When Mr. Proto, managing partner of Rothschild & Co and former ministerial cabinet, joined Société Générale in 2018 as head of strategy, he appeared to be Mr. Oudéa’s natural dolphin. In 2020, he was promoted to deputy general manager, in charge of retail banking and private banking. Since then, he has led one of the company’s major projects, the merger between the Crédit du Nord branch networks and those with the red and black logo. “We work a lot with Sébastien Proto to avoid social damage. He is very attentive”testifies Frédéric Guyonnet, national president of the SNB CFE-CGC union, for whom the choice of Mr. Krupa constitutes a « grosse surprise ».
“Twenty-five years of house”
Unanimously and by secret ballot, the board of directors followed the recommendation of the appointments committee, which voted in favor of Slawomir Krupa, who came from the general inspection of the bank, an elite body responsible for to comb through all the activities in the four corners of the world and considered as the royal road within the establishment. Since January 2021, he has been responsible for restoring order to corporate and investment banking activities, a division which was for a long time the flagship of the group but which has been sailing from galley to galley since the discovery of the fraud initiated by Jérôme Kerviel in January. 2008.
You have 52.76% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.