Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I'm happy to welcome you at our annual general meeting. It has been two years now that the new general management, appointed by the board in May 2023, has been set up. We have gone a long way since. The group's organization has been revamped. Its staff has been reorganized on key functions. It has better gender equality and is more diverse in terms of the board and the executive committee. Its strategy was announced in autumn 2023 with clear goals for 2026 that I recalled last year, in particular making Société Générale European Bank top-rank, robust, and sustainable, taking on board SG in its strategy and increasing its financial robustness, improving its operational efficiency with clear targets for 2026, with a capital of 13%, an operating income below 60%, and a profitability between 9% and 10%.
Since the end of 2023, the Board of Directors and General Management have sought quarter after quarter to execute its strategy. Since the second half of last year, we have started to see the results. You too have started to see the results. The macroeconomic, monetary, and geopolitical environment can only urge us to be extremely vigilant. Every day, there are new events in international economic affairs and with the current conflicts ongoing. Slawomir Krupa will tell us more about that in just a few moments. In this context, let me also renew the trust placed by the board in the bank's ability and in the employees' ability and General Management's ability to rise to the challenges that will certainly arise and to attain the goals that have been set.
Throughout this period, the trust that you have expressed, ladies and gentlemen, and dear shareholders, has played a key role. It is now time to start the joint order and extraordinary general meeting that is held at first notice of meeting, according to the notice published in the Monetary Journal on the 14th of April 2025. The quorum is 64.28%, meaning 480,246,940 shares for 25,721 shareholders. This is the record-high quorum in the past 10 years. The general meeting can therefore be duly conducted. The final quorum will be announced just after we vote on the resolutions. All the written questions and answers are available on the general meeting's website, and we'll come back to that at the end of this meeting. Around me on stage to speak with you, we have Slawomir Krupa, General Director, and Pierre Palmieri, Deputy Director General.
All throughout the general meeting, Leopoldo Alvear will be talking about the financial results, and then we'll talk about strategy with our General Director, Slawomir Krupa, and then a specific item on the agenda devoted to CSR and the climate with Pierre Palmieri. We will speak about corporate governance. I will do that myself. We will speak about compensation with Jérôme Contamine from the Remuneration Committee, followed by a debate, and we'll then vote on the resolutions. We can now form the bureau for a general meeting, appointed to sit as voters. There are the two shareholders that have accepted this function and who hold the largest number of votes in person and in proxy: Madame Noguer-Edienne, representing BNP Paribas Asset Management, and Mr. Géorges Debruhle, representing Amundi.
I would like to thank you warmly for your approval and also suggest that we should vote a Secretary of this meeting, Patricier, Secretary of the Board. The set of auditors have been convened according to the legal procedures and regulations: Mr. Emmanuel Dumois, representing PricewaterhouseCoopers; Mr. Guillaume Eby, representing KPMG. Lastly, I have on the desk the usual documents that are listed. Let me add that the documents and legal requirements prior to the general meeting listed as well were also put online on the Société Générale website and sent to the shareholders who are kept at this SG headquarters. As each year, our discussions will be broadcast live and on the internet and will be accessible subsequently on our website. As each year, we conducted a survey amongst individual shareholders to prepare this general meeting. 4,071 individual shareholders consulted, responded.
The survey shows us each year your interest, first of all, for strategy, secondly, for results and financial robustness of our group, thirdly, dividend and the compensation policy, and then the compensation of our managers, risk management, and CSR. All of these topics will be covered today, and we will come back to that later on in our discussions if you so wish. For the organization of our discussions, let me point out that at the entry to this room, you have employees who can answer all your questions as clients. So all your questions linked to your relationship directly and personally with the bank, you have people at the entrance to this auditorium who can help you.
Let me also point out that this meeting is broadcast on the internet, but we see to it that each and every one—we respect each and every one of you—because we will not broadcast any images of the participants at the general meeting, even when they have questions. So rest assured. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time to give the floor to Leopoldo Alvear, who is the CFO of Société Générale, who will be presenting the results for 2024. Leopoldo was appointed in 2023, and he'll be speaking in English, but you'll have simultaneous interpreting so that you can follow what he has to tell us. Please welcome him for the very first time. Leopoldo.
Welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very happy to be here and to take the floor before you today as a new CFO. I am delighted to have joined this wonderful company with a long-standing history and a promising future. With respect to the financial report, first of all, I'll tell you about the year's financial results in 2024, and then I will comment on the financial goals set for 2025. Lastly, we'll look at the results for the first quarter of 2025, which were published on the 30th of April last. Please allow me to continue in English.
Comme nous pouvons le voir sur la slide, l'année 2024 a mis en évidence une forte amélioration de tous nos principaux indicateurs financiers, et nous avons conclu l'année dépassant l'ensemble de nos cibles 2024. Nos revenus sont en hausse de 7%, bien au-dessus de la cible de 5%, grâce à une performance solide sur l'ensemble des métiers. Un rebond de la marge nette d'intérêt dans la banque de détail en France, qui a bénéficié au deuxième semestre 2024 de la fin de l'impact négatif des couvertures à court terme. Boursorama Banque a poursuivi sa croissance avec plus de 7.2 millions de clients fin 2024. La banque de grande clientèle et solution investisseur a publié une excellente performance en 2024 avec plus de EUR 10 billion de revenus. La banque de détail à l'international, en particulier KB et BRD, a continué d'afficher une forte performance commerciale.
Et enfin, Ayvens a amélioré ses marges linéairement en 2024, tandis que le résultat des reventes de véhicules d'occasion a continué de se normaliser. De plus, nous avons démontré une discipline stricte en matière de gestion des coûts et des risques. D'une part, nos coûts sont stables par rapport à 2023, et nous avons atteint un coefficient d'exploitation de 69% sur l'année. C'est presque une amélioration de 5 points de pourcentage sur l'année et un niveau meilleur que la cible 2024 de coefficient d'exploitation inférieur à 71%. D'autre part, à 26 points de base, le coût de risque se situe en bas de la fourchette de notre cible. Cela témoigne de la qualité de notre origination ainsi que de notre expertise en termes de gestion des risques.
Tout ceci conduit à une amélioration de notre ROTE, qui atteint 6.9% sur l'année, une hausse de 2.7 points par rapport à 2023, mieux que la cible 2024 d'un ROTE supérieur à 6%. Enfin, sur le capital, nous avons augmenté le ratio CET1 d'environ 20 points de base tout au long de l'année à 13.3%. C'est non seulement une position solide, mais aussi en avance sur notre temps. Grâce à l'atteinte de cette performance financière solide, le Conseil d'Administration a décidé de proposer une distribution totale de EUR 1.7 billion en hausse de 75% par rapport à 2023, qui se décompose en dividendes de EUR 1.09 par action, à verser en numéraire le 28 mai, et un programme de rachat d'actions de EUR 872 million déjà finalisé, équivalent à EUR 1.09 par action.
Quant aux cibles 2025, elles sont complètement conformes à notre engagement d'avoir une amélioration progressive et linéaire de notre rentabilité vers la cible 2026. Ainsi, pour 2025, nous anticipons une croissance du PNB supérieure à 3% par rapport à 2024, hors impact des sessions. Et cette croissance sera notamment portée par la banque de détail en France, qui bénéficiera, parmi d'autres éléments, d'un effet de base positif à la fin des couvertures à court terme, ainsi qu'à la baisse du taux du livret A. Boursorama Banque continuera d'autre part à croître en 2025, et pour Ayvens, nous anticipons que les marges sous-jacentes vont continuer à s'améliorer. Le groupe travaille activement sur l'amélioration de son efficacité opérationnelle grâce aux nombreuses initiatives déjà mises en place, et c'est la raison pour laquelle nous nous engageons à baisser nos coûts hors session de plus de 1% sur l'année.
Au global, nous visons un coefficient d'exploitation inférieur à 66% en fin d'année. D'autre part, le coût du risque devrait rester dans la fourchette comprise entre 25 et 30 points de base. Tout ceci devrait permettre d'atteindre une rentabilité supérieure à 8%, complètement en ligne avec l'objectif d'un ratio de rentabilité ROTE compris entre 9-10% d'ici 2026. Enfin, nous nous sommes engagés à maintenir un ratio CET1 post-BAL4 au-dessus de 13% tout au long. Et pour conclure, regardons nos résultats financiers du premier trimestre 2025. Cela a été un trimestre solide, avec des résultats en avance sur les cibles en fin d'année et avec la rentabilité du groupe qui continue de s'améliorer. Nous avons publié un résultat net par du groupe de EUR 1.6 milliard par rapport à EUR 680 millions au premier trimestre 2024, soit 2.4 fois plus élevé.
Conformément au trimestre précédent, ces résultats témoignent d'une amélioration significative de notre performance, à la fois sur le plan commercial et financier, dans l'ensemble de nos métiers. Premièrement, les revenus sont en hausse de 6.6% grâce à la contribution positive de l'ensemble des métiers. La croissance est même plus élevée, à 10.2% si on exclut les sessions, ce qui est bien au-dessus de la cible annuelle de croissance de plus de 3%. Les coûts sont en baisse de 7.6% par rapport au premier trimestre 2024 et en baisse de 4.4% par rapport au premier trimestre 2024 hors session, là encore mieux que notre cible annuelle d'une réduction des coûts de moins 1%. Par conséquent, un coefficient d'exploitation de 65% a été atteint ce trimestre grâce à une forte amélioration du levier opérationnel dans l'ensemble du groupe.
Ce niveau se compare avec une cible de moins de 66% pour la fin de l'année 2025 et représente une amélioration de 10 points de pourcentage par rapport au premier trimestre 2024. En même temps, le groupe continue de maintenir une gestion des risques rigoureuse, avec un coût du risque contenu à 23 points de base, légèrement en dessous de la fourchette cible et qui comprend un niveau élevé de provisions statistiques en encours 1, e1, e2 à EUR 3.1 milliards. Tout ceci contribue à une amélioration forte du ROTE à 11%, bien au-dessus de notre cible de fin d'année de plus de 8%. Enfin, nous avons une position de capital solide avec un ratio CET1 de 13.4% post-application de BAL4, encore une fois au-dessus de la cible au-dessus de 13%.
I will look to conclude in French. We have published excellent results with strong growth of income and an improvement of the operational lever in all of our métiers, our position of capital and equity, which is solid, and our model, which is at once robust and resilient, enables us to be well positioned in the current environment. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Now, Emmanuel Benoit for the statutory auditors. Emmanuel Benoit, this is the first General Assembly for our sustainability auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. Mr. Benoit.
hank you. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, in the name of your College of Statutory Auditors, I'm going to summarize all of our reports, which are in the documentation which has been provided to you, starting with audit reports on the consolidated accounts and annual accounts for the 2024 fiscal year. The objective of our assignment is to ensure that there's the regularity, the sincerity, and that the accounts are reflected as they should be, with no significant anomaly after our work. We certify with no reservation that the consolidated and annual accounts signed off by your board and that we have been asked to approve today.
In the context of the justification of our appreciations, we would like to draw to your attention the nine key points relating to the risk of significant anomalies, which, according to our professional judgment, were the major ones in light of the audit this year. Six look at the consolidated accounts and annual accounts. This is the assessment of the depreciations on loans, of the valorization of the financial instruments of level two and three, of the assessment of legal risks or fiscal risks of the character of recovering deferred fiscal assets in France, of IT controls linked to market activities, and to the hedging of right value for the rate risk on the basis of the portfolios of retail banking in France. Two other points looking just at consolidated accounts.
It's a reassessment of the residual value of the cars and vehicles put into location, and the insurance elements which have been put into direct elements for variable commissions. A key point of the audit looks at individual points. It's the assessment of the securities and other securities held in the long term and shares in linked companies. With regard to the report of management of the group, no observations with regard to the sincerity and concordance with consolidated and annual accounts. No observations to formulate after the other verifications and checks due under legislation, and notably the report of the governance of enterprise and the management report.
Allow me now to summarize our special report on the regulated agreements we have to communicate to you on the basis of information provided to us, the features, characteristics, essential modalities, and the motives justifying the interest of your company of the agreements that we have been advised about or that we would have discovered in the context of our assignment without having to pronounce ourselves on their well-being or to look for the existence of other agreements. In this context, we are informing you today that there was no authorized convention provided to us for the fiscal year looked at and the or others or the execution would have been carried out in the context of the past fiscal year.
Reports on capital now, the delegation of competence which is given to your board through the resolution 20 to proceed to the issuance of ordinary shares calls on no observations from us with regard to its principle and its modalities. That said, the final conditions in which this issuing would be done have not been set today. We are, of course, not giving an opinion on that or the proposal of the suppression of a preferential right of subscription, which is in resolution 20. Finally, your company published for the first time this year in its management reports information pertaining to sustainability with the for the directive CSRD and how that is applied in France. The College of Statutory Auditors gave a report settling this limited assurance with regard to the process of double materiality, information on sustainability, information regarding taxonomy with the rules applicable, notably the standards CSRS.
On the basis of the work carried out, we concluded that there were no errors identified, omissions or incoherences which would be major. We have a few observations which do not call into question the exercise. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Benoit. Before giving the floor to Slawomir Krupa, the Chief Executive Officer, looking at strategy and execution of strategy, a quick film.
Profound transformations are those which are called hold simply, which enables one to see more clearly. Further. Bigger. Who are we? First-rate European bank. A solid group, a committed group, an international one. In the service of progress. For over 160 years, we accompany 26 million customers in 62 countries. We have three complementary activity poles: retail banking in France, private bank, insurance, GBIS, mobility, retail bank, and financial services internationally. What do we do? We finance projects.
We support companies, enterprises. We back young people, families. We imagine solutions. We accelerate transformations. We create sustainable value. Who do we act for? For our customers. In order to enable their ideas to come to fruition, to grow, to make everything possible. For our staff also. For whom performance is coming together. For society. With EUR 500 billion mobilized for sustainable finance between now and 2030 for our shareholders. With solid results. EUR 26.8 billion income, plus 69% in one year, and commitments for everybody. Say what we do and do what we say. Carried by a culture of performance. Building the future on solid basis, being bold, determined whilst doing it. Being a European bank, which is a robust one, but also with sustainable performances, we are Société Générale.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I'm delighted to be with you here in La Défense under this dome of the Knit, which is there to pay homage to industry and technique. We find the echo of the principles of Société Générale founded, as you know, 161 years ago in order to favor the development of business and industry. We are not far from our towers of the Cour Valmy, where 12,000 staff work on the solidity and the success of your bank. Allow me to start by thanking warmly all the teams of the group Société Générale throughout the world for all the work accomplished, and thank you, shareholders, dear shareholders, for your trust and for your support to our strategic remodeling.
When I spoke to you for the first time at the last General Assembly, our group was just starting this strategic overhaul, and I'm not here today to say that this transformation is over. Far from it. I will try in representing all the pathway that lies ahead of us because the work which we still need to accomplish is bigger than that it has been until now. I'm thinking that said, that you are starting to see encouraging signs, and especially above all, we have shown that we were holding the commitments taken in front of you. Just over 18 months now, we unveiled a new strategy to transform our bank by giving to action clear pathways which are summarized here on screen: solidity, simplicity, and efficiency and profitability.
Today, our bank is more solid with a capital base which is strongly increased, and that is a major asset as one strategically, but in any context, all the world has many issues at the moment. Our bank is simpler, of course, because we've rationalized our portfolio of activities to focus on the core of what we do, the métier in which we have positions of leader and competitive advantages. Our bank is also starting to be more efficient, more profitable. It's a long pathway, a long journey, but it's a critical one which will bring us beyond the reduction of the break-even point of activities to a sea change in our working methods, in our professional culture, which is now really focused more so than ever before on performance.
Our bank is also more committed because we have intensified our actions in the service of climate transition, of energy security, and the defense of our continent. I will be presenting the implementation of this roadmap a bit more in detail with a few tables. First off, to be a solid bank with more capital. As you know, capital is the building block of banking activities. On the occasion of a strategic plan, I propose to the board, who decided to go ahead with it, to move our capital objective CET1 up to 13% for 2026. This corresponded to an equivalent of over EUR 4 billion, additional EUR 4 billion right from the beginning of my mandate. I shared with you my conviction that we needed to reinforce the basis of capital. I believe this effort to be necessary for several reasons.
We needed to have a mattress of solid equity, anchor the confidence in our group, and reinforce our strategic autonomy. With almost two years ahead of our schedule, we have gone well beyond this objective of 13% right from the first quarter of the year 2025, and taking into account the application of the new prudential context of Basel IV. The increase of this basis was done thanks to organic generation of capital, thanks to the progressive recovery of our performance quarter after quarter, by disciplined allocation of our risk-weighted assets, RWAs, and finally by the income of sale of activities, which were done in excellent conditions. With this level of capital, now we gave us the means to do our job in a serene manner and to ensure the risk of dilution, which was affecting negatively the perception of our share.
We can now navigate with more confidence through the economic cycles, and we can also grab and seize opportunities of growth organically, first off, at the service of our clients and the financing of the economy. Second strategic pathway to be a bank, which is a simpler one, with a business model which is more coherent, more integrated between the parties, and with ever stronger synergies between our different métiers. In line with our commitments, we applied strict criteria for analysis of coherence and performance of our portfolio of activities in order to assess the opportunity to carry out with some divestments. We have taken many decisions, and we carried them out in a very short time frame. Thirteen sales in two years carried out in excellent financial conditions, but also, and that was our commitment, in excellent conditions for all stakeholders.
We ensured that outside the group, these activities would have a sustainable future for the benefit of their employees, but also of their customers. Our métier and our implementations are now more legible, and our efforts are better targeted. We have become more coherent, more compact, more efficient. At the same time, in parallel, we continue to invest, and that's maybe what we are the most proud of. Whilst consolidating our capital position, whilst making these major divestments and significant savings, we have continued to invest and to grow to reinforce our major franchises without ever moving away from the imperative of allocating in a disciplined and orderly way our capital. We have implemented the merger of the retail networks in France. 2024 was the main year for the execution of this project, the most intense one.
We are also transforming our affiliate in Czech Republic in a radical manner, once technologically, but also from an operational point of view. We have continued to invest in our growth priorities. Thanks to Boursorama Banque, your group is a leader in the online banking in France. Over 7 million customers in a fully grown bank with all the array of products and banking service, a leader from a customer satisfaction point of view. Boursorama Banque is a success in which your group is continuing to invest to carry it further still, higher still. This last quarter, Boursorama Banque had once again business performances which are remarkable, with, for instance, in share brokerage, over 3 million customer orders carried out and a growth of 15% of its assets administered.
Thanks to Ayvens, the integration of ALD with LeasePlan implemented from 2023 in your group, your group is now ahead in the solutions of mobility and leasing of vehicles with a fleet of over 3 million vehicles. Integration has continued to progress. Ayvens can now focus all its strength on its development and the increase of its profitability. It is important to underline that at the moment where the attention of the teams was focused on the merger, Ayvens managed better than most of its competitors to navigate between the difficult and strategic issues linked to the compression of margins and the changes of paradigms in the segment of electric vehicles. We have also concluded with major financial groups like AllianceBernstein and Brookfield, partnerships reinforcing our franchises in the bank of financing and investment.
Bernstein is amongst the world leaders in research on listed values and cash actions. Our partnership with Brookfield, on the other hand, reinforces further still our origination capacity and the efficiency of the distribution of assets that we finance, notably in the infrastructures. Finally, we created Soggen AI, our vehicle to accelerate applied research in a strategic and global manner of advanced technological solutions to increase our performances over the long term, basing ourselves for that on the developments of AI, artificial intelligence. Third objective to be a bank ever more efficient. You can see on the screen here two graphic illustrations which express quantitatively the improvement of our operational efficiency. As you can see, there's still a path, a long path ahead of us that we need to get to to achieve the 60% in 2026.
We have managed clearly to reverse the trend and to really carry out in a disciplined manner the reduction, the structural reduction of our cost base thanks to our strict management on a daily basis, thanks to the implementation of different programs, which you see here on the screen, targeted on the efficiency of our IT spend, our headquarters costs, and in our different métiers. First results are there over the last quarter. Our costs are down by over 4%, excluding, of course, the mechanical impact of the sale of assets. We are carrying out these efforts ever more because optimized cost bases, of course, is reinforced profitability, but also a bigger resilience, a greater capacity to go through the economic cycles unscathed when there are issues. This optimized cost basis reinforces us, but it also protects us being a more efficient bank.
It is also increasing the means and times available for our customers with more automation and rationalization of processes. More time for our customers. At the end of the day, it's more customer satisfaction, and in fine, it's a better quality company and a more profitable one. Finally, stage in this virtuous circle, it's to be a more profitable bank by structurally improving the profitability of our operations through discipline, which I am really very firm about that we need to retain this by improving our bank model. We are improving in fine, the profitability of the capital that you, our shareholders, have invested in us, and we are responsible in front of you.
The progressive increase of our profitability is a positive consequence of our transformations, but of course, still much progress to be made to attain the 10% ROTE in 2026 and to go beyond that further still by projecting ourselves resolutely in the competition between the very best European banks. The performances of today are still better than ours, but you can count on us. You can count on our engagement to honor the confidence you put in us and the support that you bring us. Our objectives are clear. Our strategy is bearing fruit. The dynamic is there, and we are going to continue to move forward in the right direction. Our progression may not always be totally linear, but never will we be looking for excuses. Quite the opposite.
Where there are issues, we will identify reasons to work even more with ever more determination at the service of the creation of sustainable value for you, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. We have made the first steps throughout once with regard to the increase in our share price and through the new policy of distribution announced at the beginning of this year with a rate of distribution up to 50% of the net result. This policy is based on a balance between the distribution, which takes a form of monetary dividend, and the buyback of actions, always looking for the best interest of shareholders. On these solid bases, we are going to continue to consolidate our model of value creation, always showing discipline and constancy with regard to execution. We will be just as disciplined in the management of our excess capital.
Our objective, of course, is to operate with the bank at a level of 13% of ratio CET1, and any sustainable excellent will be processed in a rational manner in the proposals of the Directorate General to the board, which then decides. We will explain clearly and transparently our choice of allocations of these possible excellents. There may be one-off return to shareholders, organic investments, inorganic investments, possibly always looking to really manage in an optimal and rational manner this capital, which is yours, by ensuring that its returns are optimized. The current environment, of course, is very uncertain. We're all concerned, I'm sure you are, with what's happening in the world. These preoccupations are legitimate, and I'll say a few words about them today with a bit of perspective, taking a step back with what is occurring with the local, the current chaos.
Several configurations could emerge in the next month with two key parameters which need to be borne in mind. The first would be a global slowdown economically, linked notably to disruptions in international business system coming from tariffs and their consequences on the quantity of goods and products exchanged and services throughout the world, but more profoundly, a slowing down linked to the modifications of the global chains. The second parameter is a risk of a period of volatility, which could be ongoing for financial markets because of this deep uncertainty. From that point of those two points, a multitude of scenarios can be envisaged, but whatever the scenario which will materialize in the end, we are confident in our capacity to continue to move forward in the right direction.
Bearing with uncertainty and managing the risks, of course, this corresponds to what we are as bankers, and we are better placed today to do it, and that for three reasons. First of all, we have a robust capital position well above regulatory requirements. We have a diversified model as well in our geography and in terms of sectors. I may note that these are geographic zones that are not impacted by tariffs. Our maximum sectoral concentrations represent about 3% of all our exposures, but above all, over the long term, have shown that we have a robust risk management system. We also had a sturdy level of provisioning. We also benefit from a good repositioning of our market activities. We structured deeply over the past three years. The market is stable. Income is more stable, and we have reduced risk significantly.
Our RWA on the market has been down to 30% since 2025 as compared to 2020 and increased in our stress test consumptions of 70% over the same period. Today, our clients need us more. Our services, our presence, and our support for their needs for finance, liquidity, protection, and coverage, hedging, mobility, and advice. Our environment is also changing with new opportunities that are available for our business, particularly the case in Europe. For example, the economic and budgetary measures announced in several countries, such as in Germany, development plans for infrastructures or the strengthening of the defense sector and security sector are additional opportunities that are real. Supporting business performance, competitiveness, strategic autonomy, independence, and the safety of Europe is at the heart of our commitment for the common good of our region, and we are very well positioned to make the most of this environment.
To conclude, I would like quite simply to say that we will continue to move forward with our determination that has remained intact. We are on the right track. We are ahead to attain our different targets we called on screen. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, continue to place your trust in us and to demand from us rigor and consistency in implementing our roadmap and our commitments. I repeat it to you how proud I am to shoulder the responsibility you entrusted with me and the teams of Sustainable Management, Sustainable Working every day with all our employees, bringing as high as possible the colors of our bank to serve our clients and the sustainable interest of all our stakeholders. We want our group to shine white and occupy the role that must be it. It's to innovate, attracting talents, being the top European amongst the top European banks.
We'll see you today all together, relentlessly and without any hesitation. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Slawomir. Very clear. I'll now give the floor to Pierre Palmieri to present our strategy in light of the recommendations made by the Financial Market Authority.
Bonjour à toutes, bonjour à tous. Hello everyone. Nous avons fait le choix de placer la durabilité. We have chosen to place sustainability at the heart of the group's strategy. Nous sommes déterminés à rester fidèles. Determined to remain true to our mission. Comme l'avaient conçu et conceived by the founders of the Société Générale group over 160 years ago. It is about supporting and facilitating major transitions and meeting the challenges facing our society as a responsible and committed planet. Les challenges have, of course, evolved over time. The climate and energy challenge is major and remains so, as the scientific community remains. Parallèlement, les équilibres.
At the same time, international balances are shifting. Energy sovereignty, European security and competitiveness, and mastery of the technologies of the future are back in the spot. Construire un avenir durable avec nos clients nécessite une vision building a sustainable future with our clients. It means having a vision to rise to these long-term challenges, but also means developing our business management. Our risks and making a positive contribution. Ces deux dernières années, nous avons démontré notre capacité. To society's challenges. In recent years, we have demonstrated our ability to attain our goals. Et reconnu par les agences de notre société. Credibility has been recognized by extra financial rating agencies, and we have been awarded several distinctions. Firstly, we are making progress in line with our CSR roadmap, particularly with regard to our contribution to the environment.
L'objectif initial de EUR 300 billion de contribution à la finance durable, contributing EUR 300 billion to sustainable finance, was reached in 2024. We announced a new target of EUR 500 billion by 2030, covering both societal and environmental issues. This target echoes the work carried out as part of the alignment of the group's credit in 2024. A significant portion of financing will be devoted to transactions in low-carbon energy, sustainable real estate, low-carbon mobility, and also industry and the environmental transition. Nous mettons aussi en œuvre des objectifs. Also implementing decarbonization targets for most carbon intensive oil fields for which we have set targets. Le groupe a ainsi déjà réduit 50% its exposure à la production du pétrole et du gaz. To oil and gas production by over 50% since the end of 2019. Nous mettons en œuvre d'ici à 2030. An 80% less by 2030.
With regard to our objective of reducing emissions linked to our own operations, we are in line with our target of minus 50% between 2019 and 2030. We have attained a 36% reduction by the end of 2024. At the same time, we continue to deploy our solutions and expertise to several customers. Thanks to our environmental, social skills, and also thanks to our leading franchises, we offer a wide range of advisory services to our different categories of customers, both individuals and businesses. We provide financial solutions tailored to their needs. For example, our cutting-edge expertise in renewable energy and energy transition is particularly well recognized. That is a key part in the field of project finance consulting all over the world. We also contribute to the electrification of our customers' vehicle fleets through our subsidiary Ayvens. The group also invests in innovation by supporting new players and new technologies.
Par exemple, participation majoritaire dans la société Géry Destache in the Alternative Investment Company. We management, our aim is to become a leading player in investments in emerging leaders in the energy transition. To strengthen our capacity for action, we enter into partnerships with highly reputed institutions. In 2024, we implemented the partnership agreement signed at the end of 2022 with IFC, the International Finance Corporation, which is a member of the World Bank. This agreement has led to a number of operations that have facilitated the financing of SMEs and sustainable development projects. We recently signed also an agreement with the European Investment Bank. It aims to unlock up to EUR 8 billion of investment to support wind power manufacturers in Europe.
Lastly, in the run-up to the United Nations Conference on the Oceans to be held in France, I would like to mention that the group is contributing to the preservation of the oceans, notably as a major partner of The Ocean Cleanup, which seeks to rid oceans and rivers of plastic pollution. Secondly, we have anchored the CSR at the very heart of our activities at every level of the bank. This is why we launched an ambitious employee training plan to establish our common skills base. On the operational front, we rolled out a far-reaching ESG by design program. It aims to integrate ESG issues into the group's strategic decisions and processes. This investment has enabled us to meet the expectations of the ECB and publish our very first sustainability report.
It also enabled us to prepare for the new ESG risk management guidelines issued by the European Banking Authority. We are making steady progress in taking into account the risks associated with climate change, thanks in particular to appropriate governance. The Board of Directors approves strategic orientations proposed by the Chinese management. It also oversees their implementation by integrating CSR issues into its decision-making bodies and notably the Risk Committee. It is assisted in its work by a censor who is an expert in energy transition. In 2024, we also set up our Scientific Advisory Board, which provides us with insights of leading scientists on the transformations towards this space. Lastly, we are making progress in our ambition to be a responsible employer. By the end of 2024, around 30% of the group's top 250 managers will be women.
In addition, we have earmarked a budget of EUR 100 million for the reduction of the pay gap between men and women by 2026. Being a responsible employer, it means developing all talents within the company. It is an asset for navigating in a complex environment and to make the company more efficient. In conclusion, our determination to contribute to a sustainable world is intact. It remains intact because it is in the interest of our customers, our employees, and of course, our shareholders. Thank you for your attention.
Merci, Pierre. Thank you, Pierre. Mesdames et Messieurs les actionnaires, the shareholders will now move on to the part of our general meeting on corporate governance. Dans le document d'enregistrement universel, in the universal registration document on page 62, it added the report on corporate governance.
You may read there in detail the activity report by the board and all its committees, as well as the Chairman. Le conseil d'administration en 2024. The board of directors in 2024 met 14 times. Là, to include the committee meetings, 38 meetings in all, non-executive members' meetings, time spent on climate strategy and training sessions. The attendance rate was 98%, as in 2023, a very high level of commitment by the board members. In addition to all the regulatory issues, the board has devoted a lot of time to strategy to continue to carry out the guidelines announced on Capital Market Day on the 18th of September 2023 for the period between 2024 and 2026. The board also validated the CSR strategy and approved the extra financial performance statement. It also worked hard on preparing the first sustainability report contained in the universal registration document on page 278.
Stratégie RSE, the CSR strategy, and the board's competencies. The committee prepares its work in line in view of their expertise, supported by the censors. Pierre Palmieri pointed that out earlier. Son rôle a été étendu à toute la RSE, and he has a role in CSR and helps to draw up the strategy together with general management. The censors took part very actively in preparing the presentation that was just done, and it informed the meeting that the board decided to renew for two years Jean-Bernard Lévy as censor until May 2027. You'll find in the universal registration document at page 106 the summary of work carried out by the board. This assessment is extremely positive, both in terms of its composition and the quality of its work. Nous avons aussi veillé à.
We also sought to increase training for members of the board, particularly on CSR, but also on artificial intelligence, which is of utmost importance for the future of banking. With respect to my own personal role, I actively took part in contacts with regulators and met shareholders and international investors, in particular, to prepare this general meeting. 2024 was the year we saw major changes in governance. La direction générale, depuis le 1er novembre 2024, is composed only of two persons: Slawomir Krupa, the Director General, and Pierre Palmieri. Deputy Director General Slawomir Krupa is directly in charge of supervising retail banking after the departure of Philippe Aymerich, Cumulac Bank, for his work since 2018 as Delegate Director General, in particular for the success of one of the most important bank mergers ever carried out in France between Crédit du Nord and Société Générale. Le conseil d'administration a enregistré la.
The board of directors saw the departure, the resignation of Le Bourgmestre Rocher in September. During this meeting, you will be called upon to vote on several renewals and appointments. First of all, I'd like to pay tribute to Alexandra Schaff-Weld, who did not wish to be renewed in her term after 12 years. She chaired the Audit Committee and the Internal Control Committee, took part in the Risk Committee as well. Her expertise in banking, her international experience, and above all, her commitment at every moment at the service of Société Générale and shareholders have been exemplary, and we can give her a round of applause and thank her for the work that she has carried out over the past 10 years. She chaired over 100 meetings of the CACIB Committee, the Audit and Internal Control Committee.
Maintenant, let us move on to the appointments, the new appointments to the board. I'd like to begin by proposing as a member of the board a new Ingrid Helen Arnold, a German national. She spent a good portion of her career since 1996 in IT and digital. Ingrid Helen Arnold has had high senior responsibilities at ACP in Germany and in the USA. She also worked at Swiss Gartner Suisse as the person in charge of IT and digital. On top of her technological skills, which are a key benefit for the bank, she also has an experience as board director at Heineken and Touy. Dear Ingrid Helen, would you like to say a few words to our shareholders?
Bonjour à toutes et à tous. Hello, everyone. I am really delighted to be with you here today and to be able to address you in order to introduce myself.
First off, a few words from a personal point of view. Who am I? I'm Ingrid Helen Arnold. I'm 56. I am German. Et avec un cœur profondément. With a profoundly Francophile heart. I would even say a bit French from my heart because I've had the true delight and pleasure to live in Paris two years during. It's, oh, I have strong, strong attachments and links to French culture and to my French friends. That's to give you an idea of who I am, where I'm coming from. From a professional point of view, I have behind me 30 years in the industry of technology with many positions, functions within SAP, other major groups, but also I've been fortunate enough to invest myself in startups and to work in our family and in our family company.
Those experiences have provided me with, have taught me at any rate, very, very early on that technology is not an objective as such, but it is truly just a means to be at the service of performance, to serve competitivity and efficiency, operational efficiency. If I wanted to join the board of Société Générale, it is because I am profoundly convinced that we are living through a decisive turnpoint in technology and technology can really make a difference, a true difference for Société Générale, for a more sustainable, more resilient future. That is why I am delighted to be here today with you. As a member of the board, my objective will be to accompany the transformations of Société Générale, but above all, to ensure that the technology becomes truly a strategic lever, a lever which can bring about differentiations and make Société Générale more competitive.
Thank you, thank you today for providing me with your trust and trusting me. I would be delighted to take on this responsibility with a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm. Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen.
Merci, merci Ingrid. Thank you, Ingrid. Second appointment for the board is that of Olivier Klein, a banker, a banker by profession, currently a Director General of Lazard, not only a GIO Bank. He has been head of BRED, one of the major groups of BEPC, and has been part of the board of BEPC. He is also a lecturer in macroeconomy and monetary policy at HEC, has all the competencies to work with us, notably with regard to the evolution of retail bank watches, which is one of the major challenges for our bank. He'll also be working in the risk and audit and internal committee work, internal audit work, sorry. Olivier.
Thank you. An honor, an honor to be able to stand before you here today. A lot has been said already. From a personal point of view, I have three children, two grandchildren, and I've spent the totality of my professional career in banking, as it was said, 12 years in the Banque Française of Commerce Extérieur, the ancestor of Natixis, which was a bank focusing on medium and big French groups with a very international flavor. I went into retail banking in the past 25 years, during which I was a manager of banks of Caisse d'Épargne, and I was the director general of BPCE in charge of retail banking and insurance. I joined within the group, the BRED.
I was head of that for the last 10 years, a bit over 10 years, and BRED, which has retail banking, insurance, international banking, major group banking in a lot of emerging countries, notably. Essayer de pas mal réfléchir et de pas mal développer la banque de détail, notamment en France. I've looked to think and develop retail banking both in France and abroad. I hope, if you give me, if you entrust me with this position to commit with the Société Générale on the board to bring some, I like to think, skills, experience at any rate, and my thoughts, my views with regard to retail banking and maybe a bit of macroeconomy too. As the chair said, that I was also a lecturer and have been for over three decades now in monetary policy and financial macroeconomics.
I would be very honored to be able to integrate this board to sit on it, and I would be truly committed in a bank which can hold its own with the big international banks, European banks, which has developed a pace.
Olivier, we have three renewals. Also, the first one of Henri Poupart-Lafarge, who is a general director of Alstom. It would be his second mandate. Henri Poupart-Lafarge plays a fundamental role as chair of the nomination and corporate governance beyond being one of the managers of one of the biggest industrial groups in France. That's a major asset to Bessay. It would be he plays a true role of the second renewal submitted to a vote by the general meeting is that of William Connolly, currently chairman of the risk committee. It would be William Connolly's third mandate.
William has also been selected to become the chair of the executive board in one year after the next general assembly of May 2026 and would replace me after my third mandate as an administrator, which comes to an end in May 2026. This choice, like the preceding ones, is the work of in-depth work from the nominations committee with the assistance of an external consultant. After having examined in detail all possibilities, all candidacy, Bill, beyond the confidence of the board, has four major qualities which have really orientated our choice for you to vote on. First, excellent knowledge of Société Générale. Second, in-depth experience of banking, of finance, insurance, in-depth knowledge of governance. He chairs Aegon, which is an insurance company until the second semester of this year, and has excellent technological knowledge because he chairs the board of Amadeus IT Group in Spain.
We thank you for the support that you can bring to him for his renewal and as an administrator. Finally, the renewal of Sébastien Vetter's chair is submitted to a vote by the general meeting as director representing employee shareholders. Sébastien Vetter already has one mandate behind him and is a member of the Audit and Internal Control Committee, totally integrated into the board's work and brings his experience of banking, where he has major functions in the activities of financing, notably having been an auditor also. These are the major shareholders of the group since its privatization in 1987. Le conseil d'administration est favorable. The board is in favor of the renewal, which is submitted to a vote of the employees in France and abroad.
If you carry these votes, the board will remain practically unchanged with regard to competencies, skills, and skills which we consider are totally adapted to the strategic stakes of the bank. I would like to clarify an important aspect with regard to governance regarding parity, parity within the board of directors. En application de la loi. In application of the current legislation, at the very least, each gender needs to be represented by 40%, at least 40% of the board. Within that calculation, salaried directors, notably Lassa, are not counted for. In the context of Société Générale, that is to say that we take into the calculation 12 administrators, 12 members. As you can see here on screen, five women out of 12, that's 42%. We are absolutely in line with that legislation and I wish to have a parity, gender parity.
In spite of that, some investors have made a different calculation. They've integrated the representative of the employees in the calculation. Instead of 12, they consider that the basis is 13, which is not in line with legislation. Five out of 13, that would be under the 40% threshold. According to that, we would not be in accordance with law. That is not what law requests. In view of that calculation, they voted against the renewal of the chair of the nomination committee. We don't agree with this interpretation ourselves because the law can only be interpreted in one way. Naturally, we know that from June 2026, the law will be applied in a different manner. That will include the representative of the employees.
We know and we're going to be proposing next year in May, May 2026, an appointment of a woman to step in for me. When the law changes next year, we will be totally in line with the legislation. I would like, after this clarification, to remind you that we are attached not only to what we want to adhere to legislations, regulations, of course, but also to the best governance practices. In the past, we were above even the minimum threshold requested by law. I just wanted to flag up the fact that we do not agree with the interpretation which is given by some investors, some child investors who have a negative vote on with regard to the renewal of the chair of remunerations. It is now time to move on to the remuneration policies.
I will ask Jérôme Contamine, Chair of the Compensation Committee, to present, as he has in the past, the remuneration policies for directors. It's also an opportunity for me to thank Jérôme, Jérôme Contamine, because from next year on, in effect, from tomorrow on, he becomes Chair of the CACIG of the Audit and Internal Audit Committee and will be in the, it's Annette Messemer who will chair the Remuneration Policy Committee.
Thank you, Chair, thank you, Lorenzo. Indeed, this year again, it is down to me to present the compensation policy of the group. For the last time, as you have just pointed out, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, as you know, the board has the principles of compensation applicable in the group, signs off on it, notably with regard to staff, regulated people, regulated within the banking regulation context. It also sets, like for every company, the remuneration for the chairs and decides what shares, performance-related shares are given in line with what is provided by the General Assembly. There is an opinion of the Compensation Committee, which I've been fortunate enough to chair until now, the honor. In 2024, we met eight times.
To be quite clear, in line with the legislation, the General Assembly has to approve, on the one hand, the policy of remuneration 2025 of the, that's resolutions 5 to 7. The remunerations of the social mandatories for 2024 are the 8th, resolutions 8 to 12. That is what we called ex post remunerations. If we start with the remuneration of non-executive officers for directors, global is EUR 1.835 million since the 1st of January 2024, total remuneration. This amount remains unchanged.
With regard to the Chair of the Board, he only gets a set of remuneration, no variable. And that since 2018. And that was set for the duration of the term until the General Assembly of May 2026 at an amount, as you can see on screen here, unchanged, EUR 925,000. Let me now come to the 2025 policy of the CEO and the principles validated last year were carried again. No major change there for the Chief Executive Officer and Deputy CEO. No change. There is a set remuneration, annual variable part, and long-term interest.
For the set one, given the reorganization of the Directorate General since the 1st of November 2024 and the reduction of the number of Deputy Director Generals to a single one with added responsibilities, of course, and a bigger remit, it has been decided that Pierre Palmieri's remuneration would move to EUR 1,200,000 for the Deputy CEO. For Slawomir Krupa, it remains unchanged. Now, annual variable remuneration target. This one is set out in two parts. For 65%, it's related to attaining the budget of the financial criteria of ROTE, the cost-to-income ratio with the improvement that we've seen over time, and the threshold criterion of CET1 ratio, which is now used as a criteria threshold, which is coherent with the financial strategy and the policy of distribution, such as has been communicated.
65% for the financial performance indicators, 20% on the basis of attaining CSR objectives, and 15% on the basis of criteria pertaining to regulatory compliance and transformation of the group, and the specific objectives for each of the directors. In total, over 55% of the annual variable remuneration is indexed on the value of the Société Générale share, and 60% of the total is deferred over five years under the following performance level conditions, all this being totally compliant with banking regulation. Third part, long-term incentives, it cannot be acquired before five years under the following conditions that you see here on screen. The banking regulation, the sum of the long-term interest and the variable interest and the performance levels cannot exceed two years of fixed remuneration.
Let me remind you that the CEO and Deputy CEOs have an indemnity for non-competition clause, which is at the level of their fixed remuneration, at a level of 12 months should they leave, to an indemnity of a departure, which is paid just if it is a constrained group, if it is a forced departure from the group. This is because they were before managers, executive managers. This with regard to the pension fund, which comes into play, pension contributions, the resolutions ex post. Now, with regard to the remuneration of 2024, different elements make it up, as you can see. The fixed remuneration, annual variable remuneration, and long-term incentive.
The amounts of the annual variable remuneration have been set out in the strict application of the policy of remuneration approved for 2024 by your General Assembly and taking into account the rate of achievement of the objectives set for 2024. They are, it's a good year of performances, EUR 2,239,875 for Slawomir Krupa and EUR 1,018,125 for Pierre Palmieri. Just as a reminder, the mandate of Philippe Aymerich came to an end on the 31st of October 2024. The conditions of departure were set out according to the very strict rules of policy and recommendations of the Code Affect PDEF. The fixed remuneration of Philippe Aymerich was played pro-rata temporis until the 31st of October 2024. He did not receive Philippe Aymerich either annual variable remuneration or any long-term incentives for 2024. Je termine avec le ratio d'équité. Include with the equity ratio. Le rapport sur la rémunération des dirigeants.
Compensation for 2024 contains information on changes in the compensation of company officers as compared to average and median compensation of employees and the group's performance. The charts presented reflect changes in employees' compensation and the ratios between this compensation and the compensation of the Director General as compared to the group's profitability over five years. The 2024 ratio with respect to the median compensation for employees, which is 77, and with respect to the average compensation of employees at 55. The progression of the ratio in 2024 versus 2023 is due to the mechanical inclusion of Slawomir Krupa's compensation over a full year. He joined general management in 2023 and reflects the compensation of the Director General, which had not been reviewed since 2011 and was approved by the General Meeting.
During the same period, the group's profitability, as measured by the level of ROTE, progressed by 7.3 percentage points over the period between 2020 and 2024. Our Director General just presented his ambitions for 2025 and 2026. Enfin, le Comité de rémunération a revu les modalités de rémunération et les termes de compensation pour all so-called regulated populations, meaning risk-takers within the framework of CRD5 directive. The directive on European banking regulations, the amounts paid to this population in 2024 are also put up to your consultative vote for the 13th resolution. Thank you, dear shareholders, for your attention.
Thank you, Jérôme. Let us now turn to the written questions. This year, shareholders, answer several written questions. In general, you have the total number of questions: 56, total number of shareholders: 9 individual shareholders, including SACT 5 and 4 Pharm Associations. Answers were published on the General Meeting's website.
On pardoning those that were purely for informative purposes, the questions linked to topics were linked to topics covered since the start of the General Meeting, namely our results and financial statements, the dividend payout policy, and above all, the CSR policy and the climate transition. Le débat avec la salle. Answers have already been published and will not be read out during the meeting. Let me now open up to a discussion with the room. As I pointed out before, if you have any questions in your personal situation, as a client, there is a stand at the entry to this auditorium with people who can answer your questions. If you have any problems on your bank accounts or your relationship with the banking agencies, please contact the persons at the stand. I suggest we should start with the question put by the Advisory Committee of Shareholders.
Microphones are at your disposal. The hostesses will hand them out from my left to the right, from top to bottom of the auditorium. Don't you worry, you will get the microphone in due time. As usual, the first question is for the Advisory Committee of Shareholders. Madame Caroline Meignan, you have the floor.
Hello. As I said at the General Meeting in 2024, Société Générale disposed of seven assets and over 18 months, 13 disposals were carried out. How were these products, the fruit of these disposals, reused? And do you plan to make any other disposals in 2025? Thank you.
Bonsoir, Madame. Good evening, Madame. Thank you. Question? For your question, c'est simple. C'est quoi? Simple. Pour consolider notre position. It was used to consolidate our capital positioning. You saw that in one of my slides. It was the second contributor.
After the growth in our revenue and the organic generation of capital, that was the second factor for increasing our capital base. Des sessions lorsqu'elles ont permis de réaliser une plus-value comme c'était le cas. Fruit of disposals when it allowed capital gain, as in the first quarter of 2025, but also in other sectors of the bank with the disposal of our risks and the fact that loans in Morocco, when we dispose of Morocco, they no longer are on our balance sheet and no longer need to be capitalized. Both factors contribute significantly to the increase in our capital base. Will there be other disposals in 2025 or 2026 or in the future? The answer is maybe. Pourquoi? Parce que nous avons clairement dit lors de. We clearly pointed this out. De l'investor day en 2023.
On investor day in 2023, that our strategic management policy, our business will remain unchanged. In other words, we will constantly check that our businesses, our subsidiaries, and also businesses at Société Générale as a legal entity must also show the ability to deliver sustainable performance in line with our requirements in terms of profitability, risk profile, and our competitive positioning, and also that we are sufficiently in synergy with other group activities that it's not there to be a holding or a financial stake, but an integrated financial group. That synergy is also very important. In that respect, we have already carried out most of the disposal plan that we have thought out. Cette analyse continue, ongoing analysis of the performance of our business portfolio could, in the future, once again identify new candidates for disposals. Voilà. Maintenant, si vous vous identifiez, please state your name.
I have a number 4 over there.
Oui, bonjour. Je suis Lucas, actionnaire individuel. Hello. Individual shareholder for 20 years now. Very satisfied with the new management for two years now. Trois points. I would like to come back to the black day on the 18th of September. What happened exactly? Qu'avez-vous retenu? And what did you learn from what you should no longer do in terms of communication so that it will never happen again because it is very costly? Second point, the Krupa method, it works for you. What is the model for success as an entrepreneur, as a banker, or investor? And from which you draw inspiration in your everyday work so that we can get to know you better? And third point, the future.
You spoke in your conclusion about helping the bank to shine brightly once again, but it was already the case before the Kerviel case. Concretely, what would you like to take over or no longer take over from the good years in the past? Lastly, I'd like to thank you, Mr. Krupa, because thanks to the sharp increase in the share price in recent weeks, I manage to be at the head of the championship of experts in asset management. Thank you and congratulations.
Thank you for your question. Dans l'ordre, je vous ai appelé what you called the flop on the 18th of September. I may disappoint you because you can always do better and always explain more. You can always try to better convince. In that respect, it is clear that there is room for improvement if you think back to that day.
Let's be honest, if I stand before the shareholders and analysts on the 18th of September with a plan saying that we will save EUR 4 billion of capital internally in different forms to increase our capital base significantly through growth and disposals and so on, and that if we add that you have a certain number of expenditures to carry out a certain number of major restructuring plans, acquisitions and mergers and so on, and at the same time, between these projects and others, other initiatives for improved efficiency, we'll be spending EUR 1 billion.
Lastly, if we were to say that this dividend payout would also be directly impacted by the potential drop in the payout rate at 40%, but that indirectly to be much greater for investors by saying things clearly with respect to the concept of the underlying net income, which is the greater income on the dividend payout ratio than the drop to 40%. You shouldn't expect the share price to increase. Yet, the company, was it the right decision supported by the board? Was it something that was compulsory? Procéder à un reset, to carry out a reset, a deep-seated change in the way we manage the company? Yes, it was mandatory. It would necessarily and mechanically have led to a drop that day. Could we have done better in terms of financial communication? Always.
We constantly work on that to make we try to do our very best, but from a strategic standpoint, when you have a 180-degree transformation to carry out, that is something that cannot be done without difficulties. The Krupa method, thank you. It is quite simple. It's all about always asking yourself with the management team and all those who take part in creating the strategy, validated by the board, of course. It's all about first look, thinking about the long-term interests of the company and not being polluted by any other considerations aside from the sincere considerations based on our experience and collective competence to build a sustainable future for this company that we love so much and in which most of us have worked throughout our lives. That's almost my case at any rate.
From that point on, quite simply, let us, you must be honest and face the facts, looking at the company honestly and taking a certain number of decisions so as to remedy any problems that need to be solved and also to invest, as I said before, in a certain number of cases to continue to help the company to grow. There is nothing particular about this method, once again. It is just a strong commitment and determination to try to do your best in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders, the people from whom I draw inspiration. There are many of them. I think the Chairman would say, "Do not say all their names. I will not make a commitment on that." You are right. There are many inspiring people in France. You spoke about the United States.
Of course, you have the Americans, but you have many entrepreneurs in France, in the major, large companies, small companies that have done admirable work for years and years. We have been there to support them for over a century and a half, they are still doing miracles in terms of their growth or sometimes the transformation of their company when required. They are all a source of inspiration. I have the luxury of meeting a lot of them every week because we have the honor of having them amongst our clients. The bank's bright positioning. Let me just say that the company is not just one given moment in its history when everything seems to shine brightly. Its success begins with strong foundations.
Et c'est pour ça que dans ce que nous venons de voir, what we have just achieved, our efforts have been focused on sturdy foundations. I would just say that the great capacity of innovation in the past and the leadership that you have preserved and increased in market activities, of course, these are good reasons for satisfaction of our achievements in the past. At the same time, working on the foundations, that has not been done sufficiently. Still today, 20 years later on, we are still consolidating some of the foundations that were not consolidated at the time. Be wary of the golden era of the past.
What I can tell you is that I'm very proud and very happy when I look at the 160 years of our history, that all the generations that came before us, of what they've been able to do to serve clients and the French and international clients and European clients, because it was already international in 1872 when it opened up its first operations in London. We're very proud of our track record. Our history is a source of inspiration. You must also think over the long term. When you think over the long term, you start with the foundations. You start where it all began. Thank you.
Numéro 2. Thank you. Number 2.
Oui, bonjour. Monsieur Gender, actionnaire individuel, tout en haut. From.
Yes, I can see you.
Just a comment. There are written questions, to which you replied.
The only question is that we don't have any Wi-Fi and we have no connection. When we come to a room like this, we shouldn't have an easy access to Wi-Fi so that we can see the questions you answer because we can't. Une question l'an dernier. A question last year. À propos du rôle of Madame Rocher as an independent board member, whom I consider to have had friendly ties with the wife of Mr. Oudéa. She resigned in September. I'm very happy. I would like to know. She was a double agent. Did people know that she was linked to the Oudéa family? Because she was on the appointments committee, after all. I'm delighted that you have a new management and that the future that you're proposing for Société Générale, because we can see we have succession plans that have already been established.
I have a question after the closing, though. The role that Mr. Coller will play at Société Générale. Could you tell us a bit more about that, please?
Donc, Alexis. Alexis Coller will be joining our company in June as Deputy Director General. There was a press release on his functions. He will first and foremost be the Chairman of Investment Banking, which is quite commonplace in international retail banking. It's all about managing on a day-to-day basis the commercial operations of bankers in the investment bank, as well as specific activities in mergers and acquisitions and primary trading in equity. This is the job that he will be holding by my side and by the managers in investment and investment banking. He will also be linked to a few central departments and with the entire executive committee.
He will help to carry out the transformation plans that are still in progress and that will continue to set the pace for our operations over the years to come. Let me add that my responsibility, first and foremost, I've always considered this to be my role, is to manage from A to Z, from its constitution, development, and evolution, the company's management team. That is essential for a company manager because, of course, on their own, you can't do anything. The quality of the management team and of all the teams, in a way, is the manager's responsibility. When I see this exceptional talent, my reflex, naturally, is to try to attract that talent to the company so that they can support the company's business. This is what we did in this case. Merci. Thank you. Number 3.
Monsieur le Président, bonjour. Dear Chair, hello. I'm from the Association for Wealth Management and Shareholding as Individuals. Three questions. The first one in the environment, which is very reductive, the regulatory framework in which you operate, and given all the data available to you, can the administrator of German nationality that you are proposing, are you envisaging to integrate intelligence, augmented or artificial, however you wish to call it, within the board itself with a vote which may be consultative or deliberative as is done elsewhere? The second question pertains to the lowering of rates that a certain number of central banks seem to be wanting to introduce in the global landscape. Could you tell us to what extent that can favor the activity itself of Société Générale for the major accounts and for individuals?
My third question, we have noted, made good note that you have taken the reins of Société Générale, that you are steering Société Générale, and that you are making sure that all staff have a set path that they need to follow to convince investors to come back within the fold of Société Générale. First, a first stage has been attained in the trajectory that you are envisaging. Could you tell us whether you are going to slow down to really make sure that this first step is really solidly in place, or are you going to continue apace and to bring with you the talents which are within the Société Générale and which will ensure that, of course, the share will continue to grow as you will do, you will say what you do and do what you say?
Let me answer the first question first with regard to AI, artificial intelligence on the board. The answer is no. The answer is no. I could go into further detail, but just to summarize, first off, artificial intelligence is created on the basis of the past. Let me assure you that each board has topics which are very new, very different. I also believe that the wealth and the richness of an executive board is to have very different points of view confronted, which may be complementary. We can take a general summary over that. Having around the table, sitting at the board table with us, machines which are learning without adding a complementary vision, a different point of view, a different perspective. Une façon de penser très simple.
It would not maybe identify the issues and would not see indeed the source of problems, would not identify where they're coming from. That is the role of a board, really. We need to bring around the table complementary points of view, different points of view. For the moment, no. You talked about Hong Kong. I did not know that example. For the moment, for the time being, we consider that human intelligence is superior in this context of boards. Thank you very much. Thank you for your questions. Lowering of rates. The first answer, the most simple one, if you will, is that it is complicated. That said, I'll try and answer you.
The first point is that overall, of course, lower rates, if I simplify matters, favor economic activity and therefore investment, productive investment, and as a whole, there are a whole array of configurations which would go against what I'm saying. Generally speaking, that supports and underlies economic development. Us as bankers financing the economy, we are, of course, correlated in a positive manner to economic growth. From that point of view, it is something which is positive. In our activity of retail banking, where we have this critical function for the economies of inflows, collecting savings, which are then reemployed as for financing the economy.
Of course, at that level, there's the idea that the margin of interest, which is a major focus for investors and has been for years now, the cost, the margin between the cost of what is done with the deposits and loans, generally speaking, when rates decrease, generally that weakens structurally over the long term the net margin of interest carried out in retail banking. From that point of view, it is something which in the mid to long term is a factor which can be negative from an activity point of view. Once again, my first comment reigns absolutely valid, compensated by the activity itself, all of that.
If you will, the yield of a certain number of parameters, the management of assets, but if the general context in volume increases, it's very difficult to say at any given stage whether yes or no, the two forces which are coming together is positive or negative. At the end, like every entrepreneur, I have a preference for economic growth and economic development as a source of activity being supported. As you're asking the question specifically with regard to wealth management, at that stage, not having directly the issue of the asset management is favorable because it's favorable to investment, economic activity generally, and there again, from a theoretical point of view, favorable to the companies having higher share pricing. That is for the rates. Thank you for your comments. With regard to the first stage attained, you'll have understood.
I share that idea that we've reached the first step of a staircase which has a number of steps. Are we going to continue? We are going to continue all together at pace, as you mentioned, to transform, or are we going to slow matters down a bit? That's the question. Let me answer. We're not going to slow down, no. That said, we're not going to modify in any manner whatsoever our objectives, our targets, our transformation objectives, including cultural ones, the reinforcement of meaning and the performance-related culture within the company. All of those things require work which is to be done over the long term. There is no reason, absolutely no reason to slow down at this stage. As you said, the first step of a long staircase, of course, it may be seen as the easiest.
There are some things that we're looking at to do from a transformational point of view which are complex, more intrinsically more complex. If we're talking of technology, for instance, will take more time. The first work carried out, and you'll have heard this a number of times, I believe everything we do has the objective of being sustainable. We really have this feeling we want to rebuild or, at any rate, reinforce the foundations of the group. From that point of view, everything we do is with the objective of being sustainable, of lasting. The idea of accelerating further or slowing down, for me, can only be seen within that perspective of looking to attain sustainability.
It is not so much a question of slowing down or accelerating, but it is to continue to do in a determined manner what we have done, what we have been doing, what we are doing, and to progress towards our objectives of 2026 and beyond, and to attain the competitivity of our bank against all our European competitors. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done. No slowing down, but what we do needs to be done in a sustainable, responsible manner. To be durable, precisely. Back to the left, number seven there, bottom.
Bonsoir. Good evening. Vous m'entendez? Oui, oui, très bien. Très bien. Bonsoir, Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur Général. Mr. Chair, Mr. DG, ladies and gentlemen, I am Rémi Armand.
My question is in the name of Income Finance Association and the Coalition Beyond Fossil Fuels, which has over 70 organizations of civil society engaged for the exiting of fossil fuels on its site. Société Générale says that it's engaged and responsible and wants to contribute to a proactive and responsible transformation by accompanying the real economy towards carbon neutrality, which is excellent because that is your engagement as a Net Zero Banking Alliance Foundation to attain this carbon neutrality for 2050. The trajectory for this is traced by the International Energy Agency in its net zero emissions. It says that there needs to be a rapid transformation of our energy system and the rollout of renewable energy as a replacement of fossil energies.
Logically, any support that you may provide to the rollout of renewable energy will, of course, be welcome, but we can only decarbonate our economies if it's completed by the end to supporting new gas stations and coal plants. That is the energy transformation of a bank mobilized and responsible. We alerted you in the name of the Coalition on the case of EPH, a subsidiary of EP Group, which belongs to the billionaire Daniel Grzebinski, which was supported by Société Générale and its Czech affiliate for over EUR 100 million between 2020 and 2024. They are looking to have new plants in the Czech Republic, France, Italy, and this goes against your own commitments and the commitments of France. In addition, EPH, in addition to these gas plants, remains highly problematic. LERG, affiliate, which has been taken to court this year for violation of obligation of environmental transformation.
For that, I echo the risk identified by the statutory auditor regarding legal risks. EPH today is not looking at energy transition at all. Over 75% is in fossil energies, which shows that they want to remain anchored in fossil energies and are not looking to transition. To continue to support them is incompatible with your ambitions and commitments. My question, therefore, is a dual one. In looking at it, I would like you to say, do what you say and say what you do. So tell us what you're doing. First off, have you participated in the issuance of the $527 million in February 2025? Raise the funds and do what you say. Do you commit to put an end to all your support to EPH as long as they're not committed with regard to the stopping of fossil plants in line with your own commitments? That's it. Thank you.
Pierre. Merci pour vous. Pierre. Thank you for your questions. Thank you for your points. First off, with regard to EPH, our practice is to not provide information on specific companies or specific transactions for reasons which are legal or contractual reasons. That's with regard to the more general question with regard to involvement at once in the industry of renewable energy, but also in the financing of fossil fuels. Let me start with renewables. I would like to say, and I said this last year, and let me re-emphasize this. We are fifth financiers globally of renewable energies, number five. My reference is the Infrastructure Journal, which is a true reference in the industry. As you know, we are not the fifth global bank from a size point of view.
That means that our involvement and our commitment for financing renewable energies is extremely substantial. With regard to fossil energies, now we have taken a lot of, we have committed very strongly, and a number of commitments have been made. Let me remind you that for everything which is the oil upstream exploration and production, ENP of oil and gas, we have taken a commitment to decrease our exposure by 80% between 2019 and 2030. That is one of the engagements, one of the strongest ambitions within our sector. With regard, and you mentioned the coal plants, gas plants. With regard to coal, we have a policy. We have stopped, in effect, financing which is dedicated to coal, thermal coal, right back in 2017. We were the first, or amongst the very first, at any rate.
Our coal activity, and this is, we have no commitments from 2030 on in the OECD countries and other countries from 2040. In other words, the engagements that we're still carrying, which is still in our P&L, are extremely low with regard to gas plants now. We have not seen in what the EIA is asking that gas plants were not part of their trajectory. We have no policy of exclusion with regard to gas plants because, to our mind, they have a role to play. They play an important role to manage the intermittent period for renewable energies. What we have implemented for all the production of electricity sector to decrease, we look at the intensity of emissions of CO2 in grams per kilowatt. We monitor this, we monitor these asset indicators very closely on a regular basis.
They have already considerably down since 2019 by a simple rebalancing in our energy mix between renewable, which is increasing strongly, coal, which is decreasing strongly, and the gas plants, which we have not excluded, but which represent, at any rate, a very, very low amount in our global exposure. Given all of that, we consider that our policy is an ambitious one and aligned and will respect the commitments taken notably in the context of NZBA, Net Zero Banking Alliance.
Eight, please.
Bonjour, Monsieur le Président. Hello, Mr. Chair, c'est la vomir. Émery M. Mettel, I am representing here the SACT, an association representing the employees and former shareholder employees, and I am also part of the monitoring of the fund with other members of staff here.
I am here to ask you two questions, two questions which reflect the questions that are put to us by members of staff. First, one with regard to the growth of income, because after many restructuring, and you say that they're going to continue these restructurations, the sale of assets, it's essential for us to identify the new sources of income of results, but also for the commitment of staff. What are the projects of growth which are the biggest one and the most transformative that you're envisaging for the next years if you already have something to say? The second is a valorization of human capital. Of course, the improvement of efficiency, of operational efficiency, could also bring about the departure of key talents. We want to watch this carefully. We want to preserve know-how, technique, and competencies.
What initiatives is management going to take to preserve and transmit strategic competencies within the group? IT, managerial competencies, skills, and know-how. Thank you very much.
Thank you. With regard to new sources of revenue and growth of said revenue, I think that's a very important question that I'll come back to. I talked about it briefly during my opening speech. Restructuring, the transformation that we are carrying out notably over the past 24 months is substantial, of course, but it is accompanied in parallel at the same time by this period of investment which has been the most substantial in our history. Maybe you find that difficult to apprehend, to believe. Let me come back to what I was saying earlier on, but it's a reality. We are currently integrating the biggest acquisition that the group has ever done.
An acquisition of the number one by the number two in its sector. I'm talking, of course, of Ayvens here. And this is a company which is a complex one from a financial point of view. About half of the income comes from the service-related margins, services carried out by the management, the operating management from A to Z, end to end of over 3 million vehicles in over 40 countries throughout the world. It is a merger, which, because it is a company which is present in 40 countries, is a merger which needs to be done country by country by country. Just allow me to ask you to take one second to think about what I have just expressed in order to measure, to truly measure the amplitude of this task that we are carrying out.
In the same time, we have carried out, the Chair was reminding this of this earlier on, from essentially the end of 2023 and majorly in 2024, one of the biggest banking mergers in France. Dans ce processus, nous avons par ailleurs investi. At the same time, we invested hundreds of millions in the Czech Republic, totally revamping its core banking system and specialists. I thank you once again. Those have been investing in us for over 20 years now. There are many of you. You know that changing our core banking system is a dream pursued by many, and few have made it come true. This is now in progress at KB. It is difficult, like all major projects, but it is now being completed at the same time. We are investing hundreds of millions.
An important decision that we took at the same time as others in September 2023 in helping Boursorama to grow. Thanks to this decision, which was not what the financial markets would have preferred over the short term, we decided at the time to say no. This is an absolutely unique growth opportunity, and we will not sacrifice it for short-term imperatives. At the time, we decided to invest hundreds of millions in acquiring new clients for years, whom we have today. My first answer is we can't do more, because we're already doing the maximum. It is fundamental for that to be understood. We have spoken about it time and time again. Once again, I believe that the management teams, in the broad sense of the term, this is precisely what we are the most proud of.
To be able to say today, after a lot of work, a lot of humility, a lot of concentration, to be able to do both at the same time. The proof can be seen in the fact that, setting aside disposals in the first quarter, revenue is up by 10%. If you want to have a macroeconomic proof of what I'm saying, you have it there. We will continue to do so. To finish answering your question, organically, because today we consider that in all these businesses that we have restructured and we have continued to invest in investment banking as well, we have significant growth opportunities. Okay, leveraging human capital. Human capital in all companies, especially in services and certainly in banking, is certainly a key success factor over the long term. This is something that lies at the heart of our concerns.
We gave an example with the recruitment specifically in the domain of specific recruitment and training, because we believe in general that we have progress to make at the company in that respect. We have development plans that are significant in that area, precisely in order to leverage our existing skills and this transmission in the company over the years. One point that was a strength at Société Générale in the past still is, but we must work on this. I will conclude by saying that in terms of developing human capital and keeping people, for me, the company's performance, and its ability to satisfy its clients, its ability to be credible amongst its clients, be they private individuals or large corporates or financial institutions around the world, that is an essential part of its culture. To increase its skills and its capacity to deliver sustainable performance.
Everything we're doing to improve our performance and to improve our culture of performance in the company is absolutely vital to develop its human capital.
Very well then, nine.
Bonsoir. Je m'appelle Marika. Good evening. I'm Marika. And I put my question. We spoke about corporate social responsibility and sustainable finance, but we see that more and more European banks have played their major role in setting up the first omnibus package by the EU. Chair Action condemns it. It devaluizes human rights, the rights of employees, and the protection of the environment, and it's dangerous. Societal Europe considers that banks have put pressure to eliminate the clause that could have helped to fully include financial institutions in the CSTBB due to diligence, forcing banks to use the omnibus. The current trend to deregulation is used as a pretext to avoid deregulation.
The report, published in February 2025, was promoted and drafted by the European Banking Federation. I have two questions. What was the involvement of Société Générale in discussions with the French banking authority and European policymakers on the omnibus proposal? And to what extent the final omnibus proposal is it in line with the proposal made by Société Générale? Thank you.
Je vais commencer, puis si tu as. I will begin, and if you have anything to add, please go ahead. First of all, I'm not here to report back to you on Société Générale's position in its strategic thinking on the economic environment in which we operate in the European Union. That's my first point. Just a matter of procedure to put it that way.
Now, we take part in all the institutions on the market, like any other company, and the position of the French banking federation and of the European banking federation, they are public. You yourself are referring to documents that were published, made public, just like any other non-governmental organization which has the same right of expression of its vision of the world. No one has a monopoly in a democracy like the European state of democracy. No one has a monopoly of having a transparent and legitimate position on changes in the legal regulatory framework or the philosophical or economic framework of the place where they live. Société Générale does not make proposals on itself. It takes part through its different bodies in the studies, but not specifically involved in these different processes. That is it.
Might I add a comment? It may seem a bit off, but the omnibus proposal was described as a minibus by the European sector. I will stop there in terms of my comments on that proposal. Pierre, would you like to add anything to that?
No, I think we are convinced without going into the details. There is no incompatibility between strong ambitions in terms of fighting against climate change, taking into account major transitions, and European competitiveness in any measure, going in that direction, which we receive and welcome quite favorably. Very well. We could speak about that at great length. Simplification does not necessarily mean deregulation, by the way. I really think that is important.
Number one.
Bonjour, je suis actionnaire. Good afternoon. I'm a private shareholder and a former employee at Société Générale. Forty-two years at Société Générale. Employees and shareholders are very angry to see the arrival of Mr. Alexis Coller at Société Générale, knowing that he is the right hand of Mr. Macron. You said earlier that you wanted to attract talents. You said that Mr. Macron is very talented. We can see the state of France. So we are very much concerned to see the arrival of Mr. Alexis Coller at Société Générale. Not good for our image. Thank you.
Je constate qu'il n'y avait pas de question. I can see that that wasn't a question, so there will be no answer. Number five.
Oui, bonjour, Monsieur le Président. Bonjour, Mesdames et Messieurs. D'abord, je voudrais vous féliciter. I'd like to congratulate you on supporting gas proposals for proper plants. Intermittence is a major problem, and it's good to have the means to respond rapidly to energy intermittence. I don't know if you could take the example of Italy and Spain, Portugal and Spain.
My question, I was a bit disappointed by the dividend or the dividend payout, a payout of EUR 2.19, which gives us a yield of 4%, which is not a lot, but decent. The dividend is just a half of that. As a pensioner, I need the dividend for my retirement. Now you're eliminating half of my dividend to buy shares. The shares are not you. Why not pay out the dividend and allow your shareholders to do what they want to with their dividend? It is not you to buy back shares. That is not up to you. Thank you.
Good evening. We already covered this topic last year, but it is a very important topic. Thank you for your question. I will try to answer you. À nouveau. Once again, naturally, the board takes decisions on allocating capital.
En ce qui concerne la distribution, ou éventuellement with respect to distribution, distribution of any excess capital, we made a simple choice. Either to reinvest in organic growth for the company, or reinvest in inorganic growth, or a dividend payout. We paid out a small amount for distribution for the annual result, which is stable. It can be readjusted here and there. The reason why it plans to have a balance share between dividend is that at the discount, it's still significant, even though it was reduced in recent months. It's all about the relution of net profits per share and the financial efficiency of a share buyback, which is far greater than that of dividend. What is happening is that here we have a certain number of different types of shareholders represented. You represent a diverse community with different visions and different views.
A certain number of institutional investors, either to speak right now, they would ask me exactly the opposite. Why pay out a dividend when you have a discount at the time when the decision was taken? If I remember correctly, it was about 40%. They would say the opposite. That distribution payout policy this time proposed and decided by the board seeks to propose something that is well balanced between the outlooks offered by the different investors in Société Générale. It is a balance. The company's interest in terms of its valuation with respect to relution to net profits per share, the most rational option was a share back as long as you have a significant discount.
The good news, the share discount is narrowing, and we're coming closer to a situation where it will no longer be financially relevant when the company reaches a valuation which is one times the value of its own equity. Thank you. Number five.
Bonsoir, Monsieur le Président. Good evening, Mr. President, Mr. Krupa, Director General. I'd like to say that I'm satisfied to see that you're a clear man and that the company is doing well. I have a complaint. I'd like to inform you that I am a client at Boursorama since day one. I was promised something. I have a complaint. In recent years, pour moi, il y a un dysfonctionnement. There has been a dysfunctioning at Boursorama in terms of how information is processed and how they answer my request. I asked for a redress, and apparently, Mr. Pessuseni has not answered my request.
I would like to have my case handled by your team. Sinon, c'est une opération qui est délicate pour moi et dont je n'ai pas beaucoup l'habitude. It was a transaction that I'm not accustomed to, but I may have to call an attorney. I would like you to deal with this case because operating fees are too high.
Je crois qu'il y a un banc de Boursorama aussi. I think we have a stand for Boursorama as well. There's a stand outside this room for Boursorama for you to ask your question. Il n'y a pas de réponse à apporter. There is no answer to give with the firm of the Société Générale meeting, but you have representatives from Boursorama Banque with whom you may speak. There are many complaints that you can file. I do understand that you are still unsatisfied and you're always ready to continue to have a dialogue with you, but through the proper channels, which is not here at the general meeting. I people understand to listen to you.
Thank you. Number seven.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'm an individual shareholder. Congratulations for the financial performance of our company. Following this financial performance, will Société Générale make its contribution to modernizing overseas department in Mayotte some years ago? Société Générale has left Russia and sold off Rosbank at a low cost. Would you also like to make a contribution to rebuilding Mayotte? Second, as a banker, how do you feel about the arrival of a digital euro at the end of the year? Would you defend digital currencies in the future to keep freedom of choice in terms of means of payment?
Thank you very much f or your questions, I will take the second question before giving the floor to Pierre to answer the first question about the digital euro. Je ne crois pas à votre optimisme. I don't believe in your optimism or in your pessimism. I don't know. I don't believe that the central bank's digital euro will be here at the end of the year. This will certainly take many, many years of technological development of all sorts to be able to deliver on this ECB project, which is still being discussed, even at the political level. It is still being discussed by the European Council. Mais your question goes well beyond this specific project. Nous sommes toujours, oui, to begin with, always by the side of our clients.
Our clients have their own ways of behaving that they need, and they are the only judges of what is good for them within the legal framework in which we operate. For as long as the conventional currency is an important part of their preferences in terms of their behavior, we will be there to meet those needs. The underlying question in actual fact, with respect to the digital euro, is what are we trying to do? What is the problem we're trying to solve through this solution? Here it's complicated. Dans les instances bancaires internationales, on dit que l'organe national bancaire, someone said that the digital euro is a problem. I'm sorry, I can't do it correctly. It's a solution that is still looking for its problem.
If this is a very important matter, the sovereignty of European payments, ability for Europe to have instant means of payments in terms of credit cards and so on at the regional level, I think that is a crucial matter that you must think of. The solution is not necessarily by creating a digital wallet with the central bank for small amounts. I do not see how that can solve the problem of sovereignty of means of payments. There are essential strategic issues that are being discussed today by the different authorities and by us too as our market operators and all European banks. The discussion is still ongoing, and to answer your question directly, we will always make sure that we cater to our customers' needs without positioning ourselves as being able to judge their behavior.
Alors, en ce qui concerne Mayotte. With regard to Mayotte, allow me to start by saying that we have thoughts for all the inhabitants of Mayotte, our customers, our employees who have known very difficult moments. We have eight agencies in Mayotte, 67 employees that are set up, and that setup depends in effect on one of our affiliates, which is called BFCOI. We have a presence in Mayotte locally. How can we support, help customers, the employees, and all the bodies who have suffered because of the solution we are sadly all too aware of? First, there is SG Fund Aid for customers' associations and employees. The second thing, we are participating in mobilization taking place by the French authorities who launched that. We are part of that.
Fundamentally, third, by doing our job as bankers through our system, while we can, banking system network, we can take into account all risks and so on. We are present, and we are supporting our customers through these difficult times by working as bankers, which is our job.
Two, please.
Oui, bonjour. Hello. Congratulations, because very few analysts believed that you would have such figures, and you have really woken up Sleeping Beauty. We have to say that. But Boursorama Banque, just when you talk about Boursorama Banque, your competitors, you get annoyed. Great success. We can see the concentrations happening in Spain, Italy, or UniCredit. They are starting to look at Germany. UniCredit, it is not an unknown name. I would like to know, UniCredit, what work has been done?
Do you not think that that will draw attention of your competitors? How do you foresee the rollout of Boursorama and Boursorama Banque on the European market through acquisitions, partnerships? That's because Boursorama Banque is really a success, which makes your competitors very jealous.
Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. I believe, and it's a source of satisfaction, of intense satisfaction indeed, that Boursorama and Boursorama Banque be really the that they really making their mark in retail banking in France. I'll start with that side. International development is a topic which we are monitoring, looking at constantly by the board, by a directorate general. At this topic, it's a legitimate question because, as you've just reminded yourself, because of the success and the quality of the success.
Furthermore, the number of customers, one thing, but the depth of the development of customer relations within Boursorama Banque, the quality from an assets point of view, products managed, and the capacity that Boursorama Banque has to develop this relationship over time for each generation of new customers acquired is absolutely remarkable. That is a reason for which the question of its international development is, of course, a legitimate question. That said, what is very important to bear in mind, and to a certain extent, the first comment when you talked about the mergers that you mentioned, the integration, we need to acknowledge that the integration of the European banking system has practically not started as of today, apart from what can be done here and there, generally in an organic manner, not always, but generally organically in different countries.
Merging transport, merging operations have been quasi inexistent in Europe. Coming back to this idea, why? Because these jurisdictions are very different from one country to the next. In retail banking, there are also totally different behaviors from one country to the next. The reason for which we are taking our time, like in all the strategic decisions that we take, we're really looking at it, thinking about it. We want to process in a sustainable manner this question of difference in behavior. We need to recognize humbly that radical success in one country does in no way guarantee success in another country. There are major players of retail banking in Europe, such as ING Direct or Fineco, for instance, one essentially, practically in Germany, but the other in Italy, have in reality, when they developed elsewhere, they just had very limited success.
We are looking to think about what the stakes are, see how we can go about the matter in a serene manner, taking time once again to take the right decisions. More generally speaking, with regard to consolidation, we do not have a partnership with UniCredit any more so than with other banks. We collaborate on a daily basis on financial markets. We are counterparts one of the others. We can work with shared customers in collaboration. We have no strategic partnership specific with UniCredit. More generally speaking, the question of mergers and acquisitions in Europe comes up against us. I said last year, the transport operations are extraordinarily difficult. A merger is difficult without any barrier anyway between countries, regulatory barriers or whatever they may be.
When those barriers exist, whether that be with regard to mobilization, synergies from a capital point of view of mobilization of transport liquidities and transformation of assets. When you have such barriers, it becomes practically impossible to solve. In all the operations which are ongoing now, which are essentially domestic operations, because even the operation in Germany is a domestic one really, because UniCredit has big activities in Germany. What I do know today is that those operations are not really coming to fruition to conclude. Maybe final question, number five again.
Bonjour, Laurette Philippot from the Amies d'Inter France for months, years. Now, a lot of voices have been speaking up, pointing at the Mozambique Energy Total project that you're financing. You know that Total want to launch this project this summer.
You know that you played a key role in this relaunch as financiers, as you granted to finance the project in 2020, and you are still financial advisors. Mozambique LNG has become a project over the past years and the past month, ever more toxic, with notably the publication of damning surveys on what Total are doing in Mozambique and Politico and Le Monde. Those media have unveiled actions which have been carried out on this site of TotalEnergies Mozambique and by staff paid by Total looking to protect the project. I'll be clear what we're talking about. We're talking about dozens of civilians who have been sequestered in containers for three months, who have been famished, tortured, assassinated, murdered. There's also a legal investigation against Total linked with these activities in Mozambique. We're talking about a legal inquest in this project that you are financing.
Of course, these are very serious allegations of crime. I cannot say that Société Générale cannot hide the Twilight contract signed in 2020. My questions are the following. Is Société Générale favorable that an international investigation, an independent one, truly independent, be taken under the UNEGIS given the atrocities revealed by politics? Does Société Générale believe that the conditions are united to go for the relaunch of this project, or does Société Générale believe that this relaunch is not envisageable in the current conditions? Finally, as financial advisor for TotalEnergies Mozambique, what role will your bank play or is playing or will play in the decision-making processes with regard to Mozambique LNG?
I will repeat what I said earlier on with regard to BHR.
That is to say that our practice, our conduct is to not make any comments and to not provide any information on specific customers or specific projects. That said, what I can say is that with regard to this project, like every project that we're involved in, whether it be as advisors or financiers, we bring the biggest. We are very vigilant. We monitor closely in order that these projects be compliant with our policies, our environmental policies, our social policies, including human rights. We take decisions each time, ensuring after due diligence analysis, specific analysis carried out by our teams who follow the projects, that we are adhering to our policies and that we also adhere to the principles of the Equator that we've signed and in which we commit that for our major projects to respect all the environmental, social, human rights asp ects of each project.
Very good. We may be moving towards here on the left, maybe number seven. Final question, I believe.
Hello, Mr. Chair. Hello, everybody. I'm Naïm. I'm an individual shareholder of Société Générale. I'm a founder of a specialized startup in artificial intelligence. Three questions with regard to AI strategy within the group. First one, what concrete usage of generative artificial intelligence are you envisaging to transform the operations or customer services between now and 2026? Second, are you envisaging opening Soggen AI with experimentations with technological startups in that domain of artificial intelligence? My third question, what of the gains of productivity expected can be directly linked to the integration of artificial intelligence, and how can you measure the impact thereof? Thank you.
Thank you for your questions. First comment that I would like to make is that it is a topic which is, of course, at once that there's a lot published constantly, all the time in the media, all types of articles. The industrial reality is, of course, less going on, less buzzing, and that a lot of companies, notably in our industry, like us, are investing more and more resources in looking at the topics in an ever more strategic manner. That is to say, moving from a method where, roughly speaking, there were several hundred experiments carried out in the group, just scattered all over the place, to an approach which was more strategic, more thought out, where we really tried to concentrate our resources because, of course, it represents a cost, even simply to analyze solutions, to check the viability carries a big cost with it.
To concentrate that effort on the major topics and subjects. In our case, we've created Soggen AI to precisely have a vehicle that brings together the know-how, the expertise internally, externally that we've recruited to catalyze, to bring together efforts in a strategic manner and for the whole of the group, rather than, once again, being scattered, having projects here, there, and everywhere. Within this effort, we've looked at interaction with customers, onboarding of customers, which is an operational topic, which is at once cumbersome and expensive for banks, optimization of back office operations, of course, the development, IT development in the sense of coding, regular regulations, and also the staff.
Those are the six priorities that we've developed, that we've identified to look to focus our resources and efforts on the projects which will go as fast as possible and which will have a big impact rapidly. Not spreading our efforts, in other words. Of course, yes, it's a logic for this entity. We're going to facilitate interface with what we have in this domain, like elsewhere, even more so here. We really need to work with external, as you said, with external talents, startups. We need also to work with more established companies to ensure that we can really build upon and catalyze, bring together all available resources to increase our own capacity of actions in this domain of investments in this domain. What part of productivity?
In the productivity gains part and the ones announced back in 2023 in the investor day, which make up most objectives of 2026, the part of artificial intelligence is not significant in a certain manner. It's not directly quantified, even if efforts of automation may here or there integrate AI solutions. That said, in our current way of looking at the future and how we're considering matters, it could be in terms of something which could contribute much more in the spirit of what I was describing earlier on. Very last question then, maybe number two, last one. No further ones. We're moving on to the voting.
Hello. Two questions. The first one with regard to Société Générale in Europe, with regard to players who are a bit more substantial, such as BNP Paribas, for instance. What are the strategic objectives that you would implement to improve your level of competitivity? Société Générale, every year we hear talk of possible mergers with UniCredit, BNP Paribas. What information can you provide us with that? Second question.
First, rumors of merger. They're never ceasing. As I said earlier on, for the moment, no merger, no significant merger has happened over the past 20-25 years. All those ongoing have clearly not yet, the discussions have not yet come to anything. Your other question, if we're talking about competitivity, that's how I'll take it at any rate. Competitivity, at the end of the day, is measured in two manners. Like for any other company, whether you're a local grocer or an industrial group or a banker, we're talking about a gross net margin, gross margin.
It's a capacity that enables a company to create value. The selling of products and services in bankers, that's measured by capital on income employed ratio. The net one, of course, is the ROTE. Once we have, if you will, carried out all the production processes and got the gross margin through the costing structure of the company, in banking, it's a capacity to manage induced risks. That's where you get a net. With regard to we've always been in a gross profitability amongst the most profitable in the world. That's thanks to our capacity of innovation, the capacity of products and services that we have been developed for decades now. From that point of view, we have, as a group, always been amongst the very best banks capable of generating profitability, gross profitability at very high levels.
Our problem, and we've talked about that, if you will, throughout the course of this afternoon and certainly over the past two years, it's a costing structure. At what price, if you would, in inverted commas, what does it cost us to produce this high gross margin? Whatever ratio we look at, we have to say, whether it be operating ratio or typical, very specific spend, we have progressed here, there, but still much progress that we need to have to decrease our costs, our fixed costs, while still generating gross margins to increase sustainably our ROE. We have all the ingredients to be amongst the leaders. A lot of work to find ourselves in that position, that is our ambition. It appears to me that this is an interesting conclusion to our debates of this afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Je pense que nous avons traité. Very well done. I think we have covered all the topics. Strategic issues, we can now move on to a vote on the resolutions. I'll give you the floor. Thank you, Ms. President. I won't be reading out all the resolutions. The text can be found in the notice of meeting, you have tablets. Don't forget to validate your vote each time. The results will come up on screen. The final quorum is 64.34%, 480,712,583 shares for 26,051 shareholders. Moving on to the first resolution. You may now vote. There you go. Voting close. Thumbs up. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is adopted. 99.49%. The second resolution, approval of financial statements for FY 2024. Voting is open. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. No more voting. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried at 99.7%.
The third resolution on the results for 2024, a dividend of EUR 1.09, ex-dividend date 26th of May, payment as from 29th of May. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried by 98.71%. Fourth resolution. Approval of the set your auditors report and regulated agreements presented earlier. Est ouvert. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. No more voting. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried by 99.85%. Fifth resolution, remuneration policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors, as presented earlier. Vote is open. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. La résolution. The resolution is adopted by 93.76%.
Sixth resolution, remuneration policy for the Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer. It's an ex-ante policy that was presented earlier. You may now vote. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. La résolution est adoptée by 86.69%. Seventh resolution, remuneration policy for directors. It remains unchanged. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. La résolution est adoptée. Resolution carried by 94.43%. Eighth resolution, approval of information relating to the compensation of each of the corporate officers, as presented earlier, by Jérôme Contamine. You may now vote. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. The resolution is adopted by 95.46%. Ninth resolution, approval of compensation paid or allocated in 2024 or awarded for 2024 to Mr. Laurent Savigny-Smaghi, Chairman of the Board of Directors. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Please validate.
Le vote est clos. Thumbs up. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried by 93.17%. Tenth resolution, approval of compensation paid in 2024 or awarded for 2024 to Mr. Slawomir Krupa, Chief Executive Officer, presented by Jérôme Contamine. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is now closed. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried by 90%. Onzième résolution, l'approbation de la compensation versée au cours de l'année de 2024. Twenty-fourth resolution, approval of compensation paid in 2024, awarded for 2024 to Mr. Philippe Aymerich, up to 31st of December 2024. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Mr. Philippe Aymerich, Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Le vote est clos. Voting is now closed. La résolution est adoptée à 90%. The resolution is adopted by 96.86%.
Now we move on to the twelfth resolution, approval of compensation paid in 2024, awarded for 2024 to Mr. Pierre Palmieri, Deputy Chief Executive Officer. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is now closed. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is adopted by 93.97%. Thirteenth resolution, which is an advisory opinion on compensation paid to regulated persons. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. La résolution est adoptée. Resolution adopted by 97.86%. Quatorzième résolution. Fourteenth resolution. Monsieur William Connolly en qualité d'administrateur pour quatre ans. Le vote est adopté. Renewal of Mr. William Connolly as Director for a term of office of four years. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Please validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is now closed. La résolution est adoptée.
The resolution is adopted by 95.25%. Quinzième résolution. Fifteenth resolution, renewal of Mr. Henri Poupart-Lafarge as director for a term of four years. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Please validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried by 89.22%. Seizième résolution. Sixteenth resolution, appointment of Mr. Olivier Klein as director for a term of four years. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Please validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. Mr. Klein is appointed by 98.69%. Dix-septième résolution. Seventeenth resolution, appointment of Madame Ingrid Helen Arnold as director for four years. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is now over. Madame Arnold est nommée. Madame Arnold is appointed by 99.17% of votes. Dix-huitième résolution. Eighteenth resolution, renewal of Mr.
Sébastien Vetter as director representing employee shareholders. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Please validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is over. La résolution est adoptée. Resolution carried by 96.86%. Dix-neuvième résolution. Nineteenth resolution, authorization annual authorization to buy back shares for a period of eighteen months within the limit of 10% of capital. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Please validate. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried by 97.53%. Twentieth resolution, authorization for capital increase transactions reserved for employees within the limit of 1.5% of capital with a discount of 20%. Le vote est ouvert. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Please validate. Le vote est clos. Time is up. La résolution est adoptée. Resolution is carried by 98.67%. Twenty-first resolution, amendment of four provisions in the bylaws, mainly drafting.
The first is linked to social environmental challenges and the possibility for the board to take decisions via written consultation. Thirdly, to make general meetings possible via telecommunication. Lastly, decisions on indirect broadcasting of the general meetings. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Please validate. Le vote est clos. Thumbs up. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried by 98.78%. The last resolution on powers. You may now vote. N'oubliez pas de valider. Don't forget to validate. Le vote est clos. Time is up. La résolution est adoptée. The resolution is carried by 90.81%. Thank you very much. Thank you for your votes, showing your trust in us. We will see you next year, on the twenty-seventh of May, here on the twenty-seventh of May, twenty twenty-six. N'oubliez pas de. Don't forget to return your tablet on your way out.
We can also recover a small gift. Have a wonderful evening.