By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mathieu Rosemain
PARIS (Reuters) -Societe Generale has agreed to sell its British and Swiss private banking units to Switzerland’s Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) for 900 million euros ($984 million) the French bank said on Monday as it speeds up its asset sale program.
SocGen said the divisions being sold – SG Kleinwort Hambros and Societe Generale Private Banking Suisse – had assets under management of around 25 billion euros as of the end of 2023.
The deal allows UBP, one of Switzerland’s top private banks, to grow its activities overseas, notably in Britain, where it has been present for close to 30 years, it said in a separate statement.
UBP’s total assets under management amounted to 150.8 billion Swiss francs ($178 billion) at the end of June.
SocGen said in a second statement that it had also agreed to sell 70% of the shares it owns in its Madagascar subsidiary to BPCE’s BRED Banque Populaire, for an undisclosed amount.
The price of the planned sale to BPCE, France’s third-biggest banking group by assets, wasn’t disclosed.
SocGen said it planned to complete the three sales by the end of the first quarter of 2025, as it aims to divest non-core assets to improve its overall performance.
Chief Executive Slawomir Krupa has pledged to boost profits and capital by cutting costs and shedding some assets.
SocGen’s steep share price fall last week after it cut a key performance target for its French retail division has added to pressure to revive its stock price.
SocGen said the sale of SG Kleinwort Hambros and of Societe Generale Private Banking Suisse would lift its core equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio by around 10 basis points, while the sale of the Madagascar unit is expected to add 2 basis points.
It added it would now focus on its private banking business in France, Luxembourg and Monaco.
($1 = 0.9148 euros)
($1 = 0.8472 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Stephen Coates, Kirsten Donovan)