Slimmed-down banks get real with towering offices

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By Tom Bill, Lionel Laurent and Christian Plumb


Aug 22 (Reuters) - In summer 2007, French bank Societe Generale drew up plans for a stylish glass building to house 3,500 traders at the foot of its twin-tower headquarters in La Defense, the business district of west Paris.

The five-storey block of trading floors, each the size of half a soccer pitch, will open its doors later this year, but the bank will struggle to fill the 250 million euro ($309 million) structure since the intervening financial crisis forced it to cut 880 jobs in France.

"It's been such a saga," said one SocGen trader who is destined to move in. "We've been told that we may end up simply having to rent it out, or put in a gym if we can't fill it."

London Calling For Tax-Soaked French Bankers

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You can also see my interview with euronews below, entitled "French bankers ready to bolt?"

(Reuters) - The City of London financial district, though diminished by scandals and job cuts, is proving irresistible to fed-up Parisian bankers fleeing France's rising taxes and the feeling that they're not best loved at home.

French financial groups big and small, from advisory firms and private equity houses to big banks like Societe Generale (SOGN.PA), are looking at London as a possible shelter from a new 75 percent tax rate on top French earners, bankers say.

SocGen fires starting gun on asset sales

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By Lionel Laurent

PARIS | Fri Aug 10, 2012 7:45am EDT

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Societe Generale's sale of its stake in asset manager TCW was a welcome move as the French bank plays catch-up with peers further ahead in their capital-raising efforts during the euro zone crisis, but the disposal was only a first step.

The question now is whether France's No. 2 listed bank will be able to sell other, non-U.S. units over the coming year at acceptable prices, potentially getting a capital boost that would lift investor confidence, analysts said on Friday.

"Societe Generale could still sell its custody business, or potentially its insurance unit, or its consumer-credit division in Italy," Natixis analyst Alex Koagne said.
"But as long as there is no appetite for euro-denominated assets it is going to be tricky."

What do women want? Handbag insurance and a handyman hotline, obviously.

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This story is definitely the only time I have inspired a petition - in this case, to get a French bank to stop selling a product. Toxic debt? Predatory lending? Not at all, rather just a pink card with some extra offers targeting women...

By Lionel Laurent

PARIS | Thu Aug 9, 2012 12:01pm BST

(Reuters) - What does every woman want? One French bank thinks it knows the answer: Handbag insurance and a handyman hotline.

The pink-and-gold-coloured "Pour Elle" bank card, part of a cut-price summer offer by Paris-based lender Societe Generale, promises to "simplify" women's lives with up to 200 euros ($250) of handbag theft insurance and a dedicated hotline for up to two electrician, locksmith or other handyman callouts per year.

As useful as these products might be, not all women are happy to be singled out by their bank as needing special help.

"It's a little cheeky to promote both at the same time as 'female crises' that could arise," said Lys-Aelia Hart, a 24-year-old assistant art buyer living in Paris. "In my eyes, many men don't know how to deal with a serious electrical issue - on the contrary, they'd probably get killed."

Paris traders brace for new transactions tax

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By Lionel Laurent

(Reuters) - French traders hoping for a summer break from the eurozone crisis are instead likely to be grappling with the fine print of a new tax on financial transactions, due to come into force on Wednesday.

Critics say the levy - which charges 0.2 percent on purchases of any securities issued by more than 100 top French companies - will add to brokers' woes. It comes at a time of high stock-market volatility, eroding brokerage margins and growing bets on an impending French stock-market slide.

The legislation also includes taxes on high-speed trading and the purchase of contracts that insure against a European Union sovereign-debt default, a package that politicians say will raise at least 1.6 billion euros ($1.96 billion) in a full year but which detractors say will hurt earnings and investment.

"The worst-case scenario is that the tax will encourage businesses to invest elsewhere at the expense of Paris as a financial centre," said Yannick Naud, portfolio manager at Glendevon King Asset Management

SocGen staff reps approve sale of TCW -sources

(Full story) (exclusive to Reuters and the first acknowledgment inside SocGen that the deal was on)


By Lionel Laurent

PARIS, July 27 (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale's labor unions have signed off on the sale of its Los Angeles-based asset management arm TCW, two union sources told Reuters on Friday.

The deal is at a very advanced stage and will be signed in the coming days, they said. The name of the acquirer and the price of the transaction were not disclosed at the meeting.

"The works council has met ... It is decided that we are selling TCW," said one of the sources who attended the meeting.

Hedge funds pin hopes on French revolution

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By Lionel Laurent

PARIS | Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:36am EDT

(Reuters) - France's small band of hedge fund managers, long dismissed as risk-addicted buccaneers in their home market, are betting on a renaissance as investors burned by stocks and sovereign debt look elsewhere for returns.

It is a Europe-wide trend but one that matters in France, where big investors such as insurers and retirement funds - holding 2 trillion euros ($2.5 trillion) assets - are more risk-averse and put less into hedge funds than peers abroad.

The optimism of some hedge fund managers is even trumping fears for the future of French finance under Socialist President Francois Hollande, who has pledged to tax top earners more and crack down on risky trading.

"More French assets are going to go to the hedge funds. It is inevitable," said Amit Shabi, co-founder of Bernheim Dreyfus, a fund that makes bets on whether mergers succeed or fail. "The only question is how long it takes. It may be one year or five."