The French investment bank is taking a bet on a double-edged blockchain technology to stay ahead of both the tokenization and sustainability trends.

On December 1, EU member states agreed on a general approach for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. The final text shields banks from their full responsibility to prevent environmental harm, thanks in part to France’s post-Brexit ambitions.

Societe Generale and AllianceBernstein may look like an equities odd couple. Leveraging Societe Generale’s derivatives franchise is key to the new joint venture, as is maintaining AllianceBernstein’s reputation for independence.

The French bank has continued its string of direct investments in fintechs this year and is looking for more with VC fund Anthemis.

Societe Generale’s choice of Slawomir Krupa to succeed Frédéric Oudéa suggests an approach of riding out the storm and continuing elements of Oudéa’s recent strategy, rather than any radical change.

BNP Paribas’s top private banker talks to Euromoney about his love of Brittany’s rough seas, the power of ESG, and digital’s ability to transform and improve every step of the client journey.

If the French company cuts greenhouse gas emissions, it will use savings on loan margin to finance sustainability projects: if it doesn’t, its banks will fund them.

Crédit Agricole’s purchase of a 9.18% in Banco BPM could have benefits, even if it doesn’t presage a full takeover.

SocGen’s deal to sell Russian lender Rosbank back to Vladimir Potanin’s Interros Capital is painful, but could help it to move on from the war in Ukraine.

Early in the Covid crisis, CACIB avoided the big equity derivatives losses its local rivals suffered. Chief executive Jacques Ripoll tells Euromoney how the bank plans to take advantage of the rise of sustainable finance, which plays to its long-standing expertise in infrastructure and energy.

Nicolas Cailly, head of payments and cash management at Societe Generale, is responsible for growing the French bank’s cash-management franchise. He tells Euromoney why the bank’s new treasury offering is a step forward for TMS implementation.

As legacy banks plough billions into fintech, their valuations – especially compared to standalone fintech players – are far from seeing the desired benefit. Spin-offs and subsidiary IPOs are part of a growing push to make these fintech investments more independent and visible, and to force a sum-of-parts valuation. Is the answer to restructure into a listed financial holding company, of which the legacy bank would just be one part?

LeasePlan’s absorption by Societe Generale-owned ALD comes at the same time as rumours of a takeover by SocGen of ING France, potentially adding to digital bank Boursorama’s growth.

BNP Paribas has in effect ruled out using the proceeds of its US retail bank sale on big bank M&A in Europe.

Greater regulatory clarity, and perhaps a sale of Bank of the West, leave the French bank with the happy dilemma of what to do with excess capital.

Being France’s biggest retail bank might not sound as appealing as it once was. But Crédit Agricole’s management is focused on the growing number of additional products it is plugging into the network.

Annual stress tests of bank balance sheets were one of the last decade’s most obvious supervisory responses to the global financial crisis. With a wave of new bottom-up assessments now getting under way, regulators hope to do something similar with climate risks. Can they do it or will this simply result in a toothless box-ticking exercise?

The French lender’s wealth management university, introduced in 2017, is central to its ability to train private bankers to reach out and serve the high-net-worth clients the bank cannot afford to lose.

Deals such as this leave deeper problems unsolved at Societe Generale and similar banks.

In buying out its Exane equities joint venture partner, BNP Paribas reckons it can make a success of a business where few European peers have thrived. It also hopes to see a halo effect on underperforming franchises like ECM.

As the unlisted firm shrinks further in investment banking, its asset management business might IPO on its own.

A primarily national approach to post-Covid bad debt has cut adrift states such as Greece and Portugal, making future banking crises more likely.

Less pain in the downturn means less gain in an upturn.

SocGen appears willing to accept lower volumes as the price for avoiding losses of the kind it experienced in 2020.

With investment in technology supporting its Crédit du Nord merger, the bank hopes that product partnerships and a lower cost-to-serve will make it stand out in French retail.

The past year has brought new challenges for Crédit Agricole’s partnerships in products and distribution. But the wave of bank M&A sweeping Europe is also an opportunity – as its Creval deal shows.

After a year when credit markets propped up the financial performance of continental Europe’s biggest bank, concern remains about its credit risks.

Pre-2008 M&A mistakes still stand in the way of a bolder bank purchase such as Banco BPM.

Fear of Chinese advances with programmable money and Facebook’s Libra are pushing central banks to digital currencies, which may transform financial markets.

The EU’s new recovery fund is a historic step to help the countries worst affected by Covid avoid a debt trap. If the EU’s short-term bills become a risk-free, interest-rate instrument, this temporary response to the deadly virus could become a permanent change to Europe’s capital markets