SocGen taps FIS for derivatives back-office amid accelerating digital revamp

Societe Generale’s global business has selected US financial technology provider FIS for the strategic transformation of its derivatives back-office technology. The Jacksonville-headquartered fintech will provide its FIS Cleared Derivatives Suite to replace SocGen’s legacy clearing and settlement software.

“The listed derivatives clearing business is a core part of our Prime Services business franchise at Societe Generale. We are recognized by our customers, and the industry, as a market leader in this space,” commented Christophe Lattuada, COO of global banking and investor solutions at Societe Generale.

“Our decision to select FIS to provide our next generation post-trade clearing technology, represents a significant investment, with a trusted partner, to support the long term growth of this business.”

The contract builds on an existing relationship between the two firms.

In 2019, Societe Generale selected the FIS Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution to serve its corporate clients in Europe, excluding France, through the Single Euro Payments Area instant credit transfer scheme.

SocGen’s digital transformation journey

The move to the FIS Clearing Derivatives Suite is part of Societe Generale’s long-term digital transformation plan. The strategy involves cost savings through SaaS agreements with trusted partners as well as speeding up the adoption of agile working practices by working with innovative fintech providers.

As part of this transformation programme, in 2017, SocGen adopted a cloud-first strategy. By 2020, 80% of the financial giant’s servers were cloud-based. It expects this number to further increase in future.

In 2018, six fintechs were chosen to join the bank’s open innovation platform. Among those selected was Wematch – a tool for traders to negotiate and manage trades – which also attracted investment from JP Morgan’s In-Residence program.

Also chosen was the Independent Calculation Agent – a risk management, big data analytics and visualisation solution.

The bank launched a second edition of the accelerator in 2019.

More: SocGen’s Loo: Fintech independence important

In 2020, the financial giant acquired challenger bank Shine to help accelerate the adoption of new technology and working practices.

The French bank’s leadership is currently in flux, following the announcement that veteran CEO Frédéric Oudéa, who has led the French financial giant for 15 years, will not be seeking reappointment.

Oudea’s tenure as CEO, which spanned a full cycle of the global economy, including the global financial crash and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will end in 2023. His successor is to be announced in the coming months.

Among the SocGen seniors currently in the running is co-deputy general manager, Gaelle Olivier, who was appointed to her current role in January.

Olivier currently serves as COO, supervising the bank’s resources and coordinating the IT, digital transformation and innovation functions, and previously headed the bank’s Asia Pacific unit.

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