He had taken office a few weeks before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, which led to the financial crisis of 2008. He is about to bow out as international finance is shaken by the crisis of American regional banks and the fall of Credit Swiss.
Frédéric Oudéa, who bids farewell to Societe Generale shareholders on Tuesday, will have survived all the crises – that of the euro, but also Brexit, the Covid or even the war in Ukraine – thus becoming the European bank boss who remained the longer in his post. In the world, only Jamie Dimon, who has led the first American bank, JPMorgan, since 2005, has enjoyed such longevity.