Societe General Says Still Well Placed To Tap Asia's Ascent After Private Bank Unit Sale

Tom Burroughes

2 April 2015

basis and that for us is a more efficient way of making the business,” he said.

An issue was that Societe Generale’s private bank in Asia, with the assets under management it was overseeing, did not have the critical mass to be a fully successful business – if those assets had doubled then this would have been different, he added.

At the time of the agreement, DBS Group bought a business with $12.6 billion of assets (as at the end of 2013), buying the firm for $220 million in cash, with an adjustment based on the net asset value and the assets under management at the completion of the deal. The firms also entered into a memorandum of understanding to develop a commercial partnership to benefit their respective sets of clients.

Regional differences
Among other points, the report found that when entrepreneurs were asked about their views on the state of the economy in their countries, 53 per cent of respondents said it was “very good”, 29 per cent said “neutral” and 18 per cent said “poor”.

In Asia-Pacific, some 73 per cent said “very good”, 18 per cent said “neutral” and only 9 per cent said “poor”. In Europe, by contrast, only 30 per cent said prospects were “good”, 34 per cent said “neutral” and 36 per cent said “poor”.

In North America, 63 per cent of respondents said the state of the economy was “very good”, 28 per cent said “neutral” and 9 per cent said “poor”. In the Middle East and North Africa, 57 per cent said the state of the economy in their countries was “very good”, 36 per cent said “neutral” and 7 per cent said “poor”.

There are big differences between how business people saw their own countries and how they were perceived from outside, suggesting the media and other forces can colour perceptions to a degree, the survey showed. For example, 35 per cent of North American respondents said the state of the world economy was “very good” and 63 per cent of respondents from this region said the state of their region’s economy was “very good”.

Separately, when asked if their countries enjoyed a competitive advantage, 66 per cent of Asian respondents said yes, 76 per cent of North Americans said yes, but only 18 per cent of those from the Middle East and Africa said yes. Some 35 per cent of European respondents said their countries had a competitive advantage.