It would be fair to say that the appointment of Didier Valet as chief executive of Société Générale Corporate and Investment Bank (SG CIB) after the departure of Michel Peretie in December 2011 was a sign of the times. Mr Valet was previously chief financial officer (CFO), and there is no question that balance sheet management is increasingly central to the strategy of every investment bank.
But even the leanest balance sheet cannot generate a return without attention to the bank’s strongest business lines. For that, Mr Valet will be ably assisted by Christophe Mianné, promoted to deputy chief executive of the CIB after the CFO’s elevation. Mr Mianné was a key architect of the bank’s core global markets franchise, and in particular its pioneering equity derivatives division that remains the largest in Europe, and the bank’s leading revenue generator by far.
