Confirming recent media speculation, Daniel Truchi is to step down as head of Société Générale Private Banking as part of wide-ranging changes at the top of the firm. He will be replaced by Jean-François Mazaud, the Paris-headquartered firm said.

Confirming recent media speculation, Daniel Truchi is to step down as head of Société Générale Private Banking as part of wide-ranging changes at the top of the firm. He will be replaced by Jean-François Mazaud, the Paris-headquartered firm said.

Mazaud joins the executive committee of the private banking, asset management and securities services division and reports to Jacques Ripoll, head of the division. Mazaud also becomes a member of the general management committee of the SocGen group.

Truchi has “decided to pursue new opportunities in the financial sector outside Société Générale group”, the bank said in a statement.

There were media reports in early January that a change, including the departure of Truchi, was in the offing, but the French banking group declined to comment when questioned by this publication at the time. In its statement today, the bank did not elaborate on reasons why the changes have been made. SocGen is cutting jobs, selling assets and overhauling management under chief executive Frederic Oudea as it seeks to restore investor confidence after suffering, like other European banks, from a tough year.

As part of the changes, Patrick Folléa has been appointed deputy head at the private bank, retaining his roles as CEO of Société Générale Private Banking France and supervisor of the private bank’s activities in Belgium.

Yves Thieffry, currently deputy head of the private bank, is to take up another position at the firm after holding his role since 2007. In the meantime, he and Patrick Folléa will work together during the hand-over period.

These appointments will take effect on 10 March 2012.

“They [the changes] mark a new stage in the development and transformation of the private bank worldwide, whose objective is to respond to the needs of international clients seeking tailor-made investment solutions,” the firm said.

Mazaud has held senior roles at SocGen; he became deputy head of global finance for the corporate and investment banking arm in 2008. His career started in 1991 as a manager at Bank Indosuez, initially in Paris and then in Tokyo. He joined SocGen in 1993.

Patrick Folléa has been CEO of the private bank in France since July 2009. He began his career at BNP in 1984 as an economist.