Societe Generale is having difficulty finding buyers for its securities custody subsidiary SGSS, with the French bank's asking price putting off potential candidates, sources close to the matter have told us.

The bank headed by Slawomir Krupa has embarked on a vast cost-cutting program to revitalize profits by 2026, and is looking in particular to offload SGSS, for which it is reportedly asking more than €1 billion.

State Street has been interested in the Société Générale subsidiary, but discussions have now reached an impasse, one of Reuters' sources said.

Neither the French bank nor its American counterpart agreed to comment on this information.

Anxious to sell SGSS at a suitable price, Société Générale is no longer making the deal a priority, especially as the subsidiary helps provide the bank with much-needed liquidity for other business lines, two Reuters sources said.

Other potential buyers include CACEIS, owned by Crédit Agricole and Santander.

(Mathieu Rosemain; Nicolas Delame, edited by Zhifan Liu)

by Mathieu Rosemain