SocGen will cut 2,000 jobs by 2020 as part of branch closures

[PARIS] Societe Generale SA plans to cut 2,000 jobs, or 7 per cent of the workforce, at its main French retail unit through 2020 as more clients switch to online services, adding pressure on the lender to revamp its branches network.

"We're refocusing our set-up, especially our branches," to service some 8 million clients, Laurent Goutard, head of Societe Generale's French retail network, told journalists in Paris on Friday. "Mobile access is key and at the heart of the relationship," he said.

European banks are cutting the number of branches as customers increasingly switch to online services. Societe Generale, France's second-biggest lender by market value, has said it plans to reduce its domestic network by 20 per cent to 1,800 outlets by 2020, while investing 1.5 billion euros (S$2.3 billion) in digital services as it targets some 100,000 new customers a year.

Societe Generale plans to reduce the number of employees at its retail network through measures such staff retirements, while seeking to avoid job cuts, Goutard said.

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