PARIS (Reuters) – French banks would be open to new Europe-wide banking regulations in the mould of the so-called Volcker rule in the United States to crack down on speculative risk-taking, the head of Societe Generale
told Le Figaro newspaper.
Frederic Oudea reiterated his opposition to a Vickers-style reform as seen in the UK, ringfencing banks’ retail operations from their investment banks, however.
“At the international level, no one is considering a complete separation or carve-up of the banks,” Oudea was quoted as saying in an interview to be published in the Wednesday edition of Le Figaro.
“However, French banks would accept European regulation based on the Volcker rule.”
The Volcker rule, part of the Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, is aimed at preventing losses that in 2008 ended in taxpayer bailouts.
The French presidential election race has seen Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande call for the separation of banks’ risk-taking activities from those deemed useful to the economy.
(Reporting by Lionel Laurent; Editing by James Regan)
