Laurent Mignon, head of French banking giant BPCE, will step down as chairman of the group’s executive board to take over that of investment company Wendel, the two companies said in separate press releases on Saturday. After 14 years at BPCE, including four at the helm of the board of directors, Laurent Mignon will not seek a renewal of his mandate and will succeed André François-Poncet inside Wendel by January 1, the two groups said. BPCE is now launching a “succession process” to replace Laurent Mignon.
This is the second announced departure of a manager from one of the main French banking groups this year after that of Frédéric Oudéa, who will leave Societe Generale in 2023, a bank he has headed since 2008. Then manager since 2009 of Natixis, the bank’s subsidiary BPCE’s investment officer, Laurent Mignon succeeded François Pérol in 2018 at the helm of the banking giant, which brings together, in particular, the Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne networks.
His mandate was marked by the exit of Natixis from the stock market last year, after a share buyback whose objective was to reorganize activities by transferring the insurance and payment businesses to an entity that brings together the Banco Popular and Caisse d’Epargne networks.
Natixis withdrew from the stock market
Natixis’ remaining businesses, wealth and asset management and wholesale banking, for large corporations and institutions, have been merged into the new entity “Global Financial Services”. This suffered in the second quarter from an unfavorable market environment, according to the group’s results in August. However, BPCE had recorded a profit of 1.3 billion euros in the second quarter alone.
The Wendel group obtained a net profit of 480 million euros in the first half, driven by the capital gain from the sale of the industrial paint company Cromology.
Graduated from HEC in 1986 and from Stanford University (California), Laurent Mignon worked for Indosuez and Schroders banks, then for AGF (Assurances Générales de France) from 1997, notably holding the positions of financial director and then director General and President of the Executive Committee. . Laurent Mignon was also managing partner of Oddo & Cie from 2007 to 2009.
Source: BFM TV
