The offices and brands of Société de Banque Monaco (SDBM) and Société Générale in Monaco will soon merge to create a new leading player from January 2023, as Nicolas FEIT, CEO of Société Générale Private Banking, and Marc SALLÉ DE CHOU, Managing Director of Société de Banque Monaco, explain.
How would you define this merger?
It’s about bringing together the strengths of our two retail banking networks in France and in Monaco. Private banking will continue to operate under the same Société Générale Private Banking brand in Monaco, and will increase its contribution of expertise to the new bank, its clients and its staff.
The aim of the merger is to create a new retail bank that will operate in every market segment. It is above all a development project on the priority markets: wealth management clients, companies and business users (craftspeople, traders, licensed professionals, and so on). We want to remain rooted in the regions, maintaining a very close relationship with our customers.
Will the new bank have a presence in all segments locally and internationally?
Yes, with increased synergy between all areas of our business. We have a very wide range of clients, from craftspeople through to large fortunes. Our wealth management clients who are not handled through private banking need assistance that offers complete confidentiality, management services with added value and expertise. This is what we offer them, with expert advisors available in our branches, and a full selection of remote banking services for their everyday transactions. Branches will thus become a focus for advice and expertise.
Is the strategy about strengthening the expertise of the two brands through cross fertilisation?
We are retaining the strengths of both banks. The model offered by Crédit du Nord, of which SDBM is a subsidiary, contributes regional expertise and a close relationship with customers that produces very high satisfaction ratings. Société Générale supplements this model with its international experience and expertise, its capacity to invest in digital services that are among the best on the market and its influence as a major group with a presence all over the world. The economies of scale that can be made on IT systems or real estate, for example, will enable us to further increase this capacity for investment and development. By improving our new operational and customer service technologies, by improving conditions for our staff with more comfortable and collaborative flex office premises, this merger means that we can have strong ambitions for our clients, our staff, and the new brand that we are in the process of building.
In Monaco, this new bank will be a leader...
With more than 300 staff, we are set to be one of the top employers in the banking sector. The same is true for the number of clients, as we will have 25,000 clients, including more than 20,000 private individuals and 5,000 legal entities. We will be, without a doubt, the leading bank for companies and businesspeople in Monaco, helping them to invest and grow. We will also certainly be the leading lender in the industry, and we are set to be a major player in terms of assets under management. Our two driving forces will help us to expand our influence by increasing the number of sales outlets in the Principality.
