The announcement filtered on Friday afternoon: Frédéric Oudéa, the president of Société Générale, is expected to make public on Monday a new wave of job cuts.
"He told us about 650 to 700 positions, only in France," reports the national president of the National Banking Union, the leading organization in the sector.
It would not be a question of dry layoffs but of a voluntary departure plan in this group with 41,000 employees in France.
Société Générale would consider cutting 400 jobs in the Paris region, 60 in Nantes and 80 in the Strasbourg region.
No planned branch closures or elimination of counter positions either.
For the time being, the project would affect communication, human resources, compliance and securities services.
"While the results are good"
There should be no direct impact on customers.
"On the other hand, there will be an impact for staff, who will be a little more under pressure, or even in danger because reducing the staff of the compliance department is like reducing the legal safety net that protects agents from errors in the constitution of the files ”, worries Frédéric Guyonnet who does not“ understand this decision while the results are good ”.
This announcement comes as eight days ago, the bank presented its results for the third quarter, better than expected.
After a loss of one billion euros in the second quarter, the group recovered well and was able to announce a net profit of 860 million euros due to an increase in its revenues of 0.5% concomitant with a decrease of 8.2% of its management fees.
However, since January 2020, Societe Generale shares have lost 57.8% of their value.
But, analysts have all found a smile since the last results, like Jefferies who recommends buying.
The action has also gained 7.8% since the announcement of the third quarter balance sheet.
"Digitization and non-use of agencies"
But for the unions, the misunderstanding is added to the concern.
Because since confinement, the French have massively turned to digital, to the detriment of counters.
“We are now where we thought we would be in five years.
The health crisis has considerably accelerated digitization and the non-use of agencies, ”analyzes the president of the SNB-CGT.
Added to this this summer was the announcement of a plan to merge the Société Générale and Crédit du Nord networks.
Many have since expected agency closures and downsizing.
"We do not see how where two agencies of each network are neighbors, we could keep both", worries Frédéric Guyonnet.
According to him, the social impact of this merger, still unknown, is to be expected "within 18 to 24 months".
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When contacted, the bank neither denies nor confirms the job cuts.
She does not "wish to comment."