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Societe Generale Is Seeking an Australian Banking License

  • French bank actively involved in renewable power projects
  • Had wound down most of its Australian operations in 2010
Societe Generale SA Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea Interview
Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Societe Generale SA has applied for an Australian banking license as it prepares to restart its onshore lending business, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The French bank wound down much of its Australian business in 2010, when it shifted its foreign exchange and commodities trading from Sydney to Hong Kong, giving up its local deposit-taking license a few years later. But Societe Generale retained a Sydney office, and over the past couple of years has gradually been rebuilding its presence. In 2015, for example, it set up a local infrastructure financial advisory team.