French lender Societe Generale has decided to split the roles of chairman and CEO at its annual shareholders’ meeting on 19 May 2015.
Under EU’s latest Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV), all banks in Europe are required to have different people in these two roles.
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Complying by this directive, Societe Generale has named Lorenzo Bini Smaghi to chair its board of directors.
Frederic Oudea, who held the roles of CEO and chairman since 2009, will continue his position as the chief executive.
Smaghi is an Italian economist who served as an executive board member of the European Central Bank from June 2005 to December 2011.
He is currently designated as the second vice chairman of the board of Societe Generale. In his new role, Smaghi will be based in Rome.
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By GlobalDataSmaghi’s earlier roles include managing director of international financial relations at Italy’s Ministry of the Economy and Finances and head of the Bank of Italy.
Societe Generale in a statement said, "This change in corporate governance, prepared in 2014, meets the requirements applicable to banks in Europe."
The bank earlier said that unification of the two roles in 2009 was "in order to obtain a more efficient and reactive governance and to be able to respond to the challenges of the crisis."
