EBM: Frédéric Oudéa, hello and welcome.
Frédéric Oudéa: Hello
EBM: You are the CEO of Groupe Societe Generale, so what is your assessment of the second quarter of 2021 where we saw the first signs of an economic recovery?
Frédéric Oudéa: We are posting, in the second quarter of this year and in the first half, historically high levels. In the second quarter 1.4 billion € – you need to come back to the second quarter of 2016 to find a similar level, and it was benefitting from one of capital gain. So intrinsically, it’s our best quarter and again a very strong first half. And all the businesses are contributing to this very strong performance. It means a strong rebound of revenues versus 2020, but again, even beyond the crisis. We are benefitting from our maintained discipline on our costs, so you have a strong increase of the gross operating income, the efficiency and what is remarkable is the low cost of risk. Across the board, in the countries with strong support from governments as well as in more emerging markets. So, all in all, very strong financial performances and it’s the result of a lot of hard work to enhance our franchises.
EBM: Could you now give us more details about the performance of the group’s different business lines?
Frédéric Oudéa: Yes, let’s start with the French Retail. On this side a strong increase of revenues, of course compared with the second quarter of 2020, with the lockdown, but we have a very strong dynamic in the commissions, in particular regarding the financial commissions. People are saving money and are willing to get advice for investing in the best saving products. Cost is again under control and the cost of risk is at zero basically, we see very few defaults and it’s a good thing. It shows the efficiency of the support from the government and of course from the banks. We have provided the liquidity, we have maintained jobs. I think it is encouraging for the French economy, which is rebounding strongly this year. We observe also very good trends across the board for our International Retail Banking activities; growth of revenues, better operating leverage and again, low cost of risk. Financial Services have also a historically high performance, I think about the car leasing business, the Fleet Management, which on top of its organic growth is benefitting from the fact that there are few new cars, the production is facing constraints in terms of the semi-conductors and so, of course, we benefit from high residual values. It’s true for insurance also which is posting double digit growth of revenues. It’s related again to the saving products. And at the end of the day, for Global Banking and Investment Solutions, another very strong quarter. In the capital markets where we are again above our historical average in 2019, and in the financing there is a lot of activity from corporates. Same thing, good monitoring of costs and same thing, a cost of risk which is close to zero. All in all, as you can see, very consistent performance of all our businesses, with good commercial and financial performances.
EBM: Finally, with the economy showing signs of improvement despite some uncertainties, what are your priorities for the second half of the year?
Frédéric Oudéa: First of all, let me highlight that we are confident for the second part of the year regarding the economies and of course regarding our own perspective and we have actually raised our guidance. We expect now growth of revenues in all our businesses for the full year and we have reduced our expectations in terms of cost of risk and we think, again, it will be lower than even anticipated. So all in all it will translate in better profitability. But beyond, we want to carry on focusing on our strategic projects, and there are a lot of projects we are currently monitoring. Strategic projects, such as of course the combination of our two French networks. And in the Autumn, there is an important milestone, we will give more detail on the organisation of this new bank with a strong regional organisation, with a strong presence in the different territories and which has strong ambitions in terms of client satisfaction. We want, of course, to pursue the development of Boursorama which is the leading online bank in France. We want to pursue the digitalisation of our International Retail Banking activities across the board, and of course, pursue the development of our Financial Services in line with the change in the usage and expectations of our clients. And regarding our Global Banking and Investment Solutions, we remain positive on the market perspective. There are a lot of transactions, corporate clients are active, and we are there to help them to finance their projects and of course to think about their transformation regarding ESG and digitalisation. And these are the themes, the structural trends, which will also feed our own strategic projects for 2022-2025. We will work on it and again it will be at the heart of our strategy, with major changes, progressive changes in our portfolio of credit in the way we advise savings and in the way we consume, for example, energy. So, a very busy, but very promising second half, and as I’ve said, a positive perspective from a financial point of view.
EBM: Frédécric Oudéa, thank you
Frédéric Oudéa: You’re welcome.
