SocGen lost a whole bunch of people in London. Again
It’s been a while since Société Générale was a serious investment bank, and it’s been a while since it hoped to be (when the firm’s head of investment banking, Slawomir Krupa, became CEO). It didn’t take a lot for it to happen – gradual downsizing over the better part of a decade can be just as brutal as massive rounds of cuts. But what if one happened during the other?
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The annual filing for Societe Generale International Limited (SGIL), one of the French bank’s UK subsidiaries, showed that its headcount fell from 290 people to 215 people across 2025, a decline of 26%. The most significant fall was among “front office” professionals.
To add insult to injury, it is the seventh consecutive year in a row in which SGIL reported fewer employees than the year before. In 2018, it had 471 employees, of which 114 were in the front office and 348 were “support”. In 2025, it had 215 employees, of which 68 were front office, and 138 were “support”. Only the number of “management” professionals stayed the same.
That’s a fall of 40% and 60% in seven years, respectively, for “front office” and “support” people. Many have likely been offshored, as Societe Generale International Limited has steadily increased the services it receives from other companies under the SocGen umbrella – from £34m in 2023 to £72m in 2025.
Happily, however, the firm seems to have become more generous over the years. The average Societe Generale International Limited employee earned £101k ($137k) in 2018, but £146k ($197k) in 2025. That was enough to keep up with inflation, plus £10k.
Of course, SocGen's London footprint is much larger than 215 people. Its latest annual report indicated that it had approximately 2,500 people in the UK. SGIL noted that its primary services are supporting the parent firm's global coverage platform for execution, clearing, settlement, and reporting services. It's also important to note that figures are for 2025, and 2026 is notably still ongoing.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if SocGen trimmed some of its London bonsai this year, however. The bank plans to cut 1,800 roles in France, all through natural attrition. It’s not clear how the London cuts went; SGIL’s “other provisions”, which include severance pay under the firm’s liabilities heading, did not suggest a massive increase in severance pay.
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