Slawomir Krupa, CEO of Societe Generale, said on Wednesday that cross-border mergers and acquisitions between European banks are structurally unlikely. A week ago, French President Macron called for greater banking consolidation.
scratch3.0"They are highly unlikely to emerge in Europe today for a number of reasons, first of all, regulatory: the size of banking institutions is related to huge capital surcharges," he told shareholders at their annual shareholders 'meeting in Paris.
Two individual shareholders urged Kruppa to respond to Macron's specific remarks about Societe Generale, as the French president seemed willing to see the bank acquired by another large European bank.
For example, when asked if he would consider selling SocGen to Spain's Santander, Macron said: "Trading as a European means you need to integrate as a European."
Macron's remarks boostedscratch3.0The share price of Societe Generale was reduced, but it was criticized by the bank's main union.
Krupa declined to comment on Macron's remarks, but added that current restrictions related to the flow of cross-border liquidity showed the lack of a European banking union, making such cooperation very difficult.
His remarks echoed remarks made last week by BNP Paribas CEO Jean-Laurent Bonana.