The announcement is surprising, six months after the formalization of the merger project between Societe Generale and its subsidiary. Crédit du Nord CEO Françoise Mercadal-Delasalles suddenly left her post after only three years.
She becomes adviser to the general management of the Société Générale group, Crédit du Nord announced on Friday in a press release. She is replaced by Jean-Louis Klein, Deputy CEO of the bank since 2018.
“Societe Generale is putting its teams in place to ensure that everyone is moving in the same direction to complete the project,” considers a staff representative at Credit du Nord, stressing that the CEO was not the most excited.
The appointment was validated by the bank’s board of directors, which met on Friday morning, under the chairmanship of Sébastien Proto, the deputy managing director of Société Générale, in charge of the “Vision 2025” project.
Real motivation
It is accompanied by the appointment of a new number two, Yann de Nanteuil, who until now was deputy director of the Africa, Mediterranean and Overseas region of the La Défense bank.
This sudden replacement leaves doubt on the real motivation of the former boss of the Crédit du Nord group – rather discreet for six months – to complete the merger with the network of Societe Generale branches.
The project, which calls into question the independence of Crédit du Nord, should result in the disappearance of 600 branches (out of a total of 2,100 for the two networks), the elimination of several thousand jobs, and generate 450 million euros in savings.
A good connoisseur of the house
On her arrival at the head of the group and its nine regional banks in 2018, Françoise Mercadal-Delasalles (since 2009 at Société Générale), was entrusted with the task of continuing its development and accelerating its digital transformation.
If his involvement in the launch of the merger project was welcomed by the board of directors, “the arrival of Jean-Louis Klein will accelerate the execution of the plan”, recognizes a source at Societe Generale.
The new boss, 60, knows the house well. Joined Crédit du Nord in 1986, Jean-Louis Klein notably headed the regional banks Leydernier and Kolb, steered the group’s business division, before occupying the same functions at Société Générale.
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