Societe Generale: Renewals and appointments of Directors proposed to the General Meeting of 27 may 2026
RENEWALS AND APPOINTMENTS OF DIRECTORS PROPOSED TO THE GENERAL MEETING OF 27 MAY 2026
Press release
Paris, 2 March 2026
The Board of Directors, upon the recommendation of the Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee, approved the proposed renewals and appointments of directors, ahead of the Combined Shareholders’ General Meeting to be held on 27 May 2026.
The Board of Directors invites the General Meeting of 27 May 2026 to vote on the appointment of a new director (Dame Clara Furse) and a director co-opted since September 2025 (Mrs Laura Barlow), as well as the renewal of two directors (Mr. Jérôme Contamine and Mrs Diane Côté).
Mr. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, independent director for twelve years (date of first appointment: 2015) as of the date of the General Meeting of 27 May 2026, has a term of office that is coming to an end. If his term of office were to be renewed, he would no longer meet the independence criteria set out in the AFEP-MEDEF Code. As a result, Mr. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi did not wish to have his term as director renewed, and his Chairmanship of the Board will come to an end.
As a reminder, at its meeting held on 10 April 2025, the Board of Directors selected Mr. William Connelly to serve as its Chairman following the General Meeting of 27 May 2026.
Two appointments are proposed:
- Dame Clara Furse will be appointed for a first term as director following the end of Mr. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi’s term. Of British and Canadian nationality, Dame Clara Furse has exceptional banking and financial experience. In particular, she was Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2009. She has served as an independent director for major listed companies in Europe, including Vodafone, Legal and General, Amadeus IT, and in Japan (Nomura Holding). Finally, she has also carried out important assignments for major British institutions, including the Bank of England. In 2008, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali in Italy and Chair of the UK Carbon Market Forum in the United Kingdom. She is Non-Executive Chair of HSBC UK until April 2026. If appointed, she will be designated Chair of the Risk Committee, replacing Mr. William Connelly.
- It will be proposed to ratify the appointment of Mrs Laura Barlow as director. Co-opted in September 2025 following the resignation of Mrs Beatrice Cossa-Dumurgier, Mrs Laura Barlow has held important positions as a banker within NatWest Group (formerly known as RBS) and Barclays, particularly as head of risk and sustainability. She has been a member of the Risk Committee since her co-option in September 2025. Her attendance rate at Board of Directors and Risk Committee meetings has been 100% since her co-option.
Two renewals are proposed:
- Mr. Jérôme Contamine will be proposed for a third term as an independent director. Of French nationality, Mr. Jérôme Contamine has extensive experience as Chief Financial Officer of Veolia Environnement and then Sanofi. He also serves as a director of a foreign listed company (Galapagos N.V.). Since the beginning of his term, his attendance rate has been 98% for Board of Directors meetings and 100% for committee meetings (Compensation Committee and Audit and Internal Control Committee).
- Mrs Diane Côté will be proposed for a third term as an independent director. Of Canadian nationality, Mrs Diane Côté is a chartered professional accountant and member of the Order of Professional Accountants of Quebec (CPA Canada). From 1992 to 2012, she held senior positions in auditing, risk management, and finance at various insurance companies (Prudential, Standard Life, and Aviva) in Canada and the United Kingdom. From 2012 to 1 February 2021, Mrs Diane Côté served as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) and member of the Executive Committee of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). She holds a directorship with a listed company (Scor). Since the beginning of her term, her attendance rate at Board of Directors meetings has been 96% and 100% for committee meetings (Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee, Risk Committee, and Audit and Internal Control Committee).
If the General Meeting approves these proposals, the Board of Directors will be composed of approximately 46% of women (6/13), excluding the two directors representing employees, and 92% of independent directors (11/12), excluding employee directors and the director representing employee shareholders.
46% of directors have at least one foreign nationality.
The Board has ensured that, thus composed, it will have all the skills necessary for its proper functioning and the exercise of its mission of defining the strategy of the Societe Generale group and monitoring its implementation.
Press Contacts:
Jean-Baptiste Froville_+33 1 58 98 68 00_ jean-baptiste.froville@socgen.com
Fanny Rouby_+33 1 57 29 11 12_ fanny.rouby@socgen.com
Societe Generale
Societe Generale is a top tier European Bank with around 119,000 employees serving more than 26 million clients in 62 countries across the world. We have been supporting the development of our economies for 160 years, providing our corporate, institutional, and individual clients with a wide array of value-added advisory and financial solutions. Our long-lasting and trusted relationships with the clients, our cutting-edge expertise, our unique innovation, our ESG capabilities and leading franchises are part of our DNA and serve our most essential objective – to deliver sustainable value creation for all our stakeholders.
The Group runs three complementary sets of businesses, embedding ESG offerings for all its clients:
- French Retail, Private Banking and Insurance, with leading retail bank SG and insurance franchise, premium private banking services, and the leading digital bank BoursoBank.
- Global Banking and Investor Solutions, a top tier wholesale bank offering tailored-made solutions with distinctive global leadership in equity derivatives, structured finance and ESG.
- Mobility, International Retail Banking and Financial Services, comprising well-established universal banks (in Czech Republic, Romania and several African countries), Ayvens (the new ALD I LeasePlan brand), a global player in sustainable mobility, as well as specialized financing activities.
Committed to building together with its clients a better and sustainable future, Societe Generale aims to be a leading partner in the environmental transition and sustainability overall. The Group is included in the principal socially responsible investment indices: DJSI (Europe), FTSE4Good (Global and Europe), Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion Index, Euronext Vigeo (Europe and Eurozone), STOXX Global ESG Leaders indexes, and the MSCI Low Carbon Leaders Index (World and Europe).
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