A neat little deal between Societe Generale and wealth management company Rockefeller Financial Services announced Tuesday draws attention to one part of SocGen that has been doing very nicely, thank you: SG Private Banking has bought (for an undisclosed price) a minority equity stake in Rockefeller Financial Services — parent company of Rockefeller and Co — after the companies agreed to forge a global alliance to “serve the financial needs of ultra high net worth individuals and family offices around the world”, SocGen said in a statement.
SocGen’s move to expand its private banking operations in the US comes just as UBS – one of the world’s leading private banking operations – beats a hasty and painful retreat from American private banking, dismantling its US private banking team amid legal action by authorities over its alleged role in helping US clients evade tax.
Last year, SocGen’s SG Hambros division bought ABN Amro Private Banking London. Since January, when SocGen disclosed losses of nearly $5bn related to trader Jerome Kerviel, the private banking has stepped up expansion through acquisitions and hiring.
In February, its private banking arm bought Calgary-based CWM Group, with C$650mm ($637m) under management, for an undisclosed amount, reports Bloomberg.
Reuters reports that SG Private Banking, which has been one of SocGen’s best-performing divisions in recent months, has assets of around 71bn euros ($109bn) under management. Rockefeller, headquartered in New York, had $29bn of assets under management as of March 31.
The Rockefeller deal, according to Daniel Truchi, head of SocGen’s private banking unit, would help the French bank expand in the US. “Overall, this makes quite a significant alliance”, he told Bloomberg Television.
SocGen’s shares closed at 58.14 euros on Monday — an overall drop of about 37 per cent since the start of 2008, compared to a 26 per cent fall in the DJ Stoxx European banking sector, added Reuters.