By Fabio Benedetti-Valentini
June 04, 2010 (Update1)
(Updates with shares in fourth paragraph.)
SourceJune 4 (Bloomberg) -- Societe Generale SA, France’s second- biggest bank by market value, is telling analysts that it didn’t suffer losses on derivatives, said two people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified.
Societe Generale declined to comment on reports today by Reuters and CNBC that cited speculation the bank may face derivatives losses. “If we had something to say, we would have already communicated,” said Laura Schalk, a spokeswoman for the Paris-based bank.
Societe Generale fell 7.6 percent to 31.59 euros in Paris trading amid the speculation on derivatives losses and on concern that the sovereign-debt crisis may spread to central and eastern European countries. The 52-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index declined 3.9 percent.
The bank has “got significant credit commitments in eastern Europe,” said Francois Chaulet, who helps manage 160 million euros at Montsegur Finance in Paris and holds no shares in Societe Generale. “Beyond rumors polluting the market, concerns of writedowns and industrial accidents always overhang Societe Generale.”
Societe Generale, through its retail units, had about 14.5 billion euros of loans in the Czech Republic and 7.7 billion euros in Romania at the end of March, according to the bank’s Website. It doesn’t have a retail operation in Hungary, where a spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the economy is in a “very grave situation.”
--Editor: Dylan Griffiths, Frank Connelly.
To contact the reporter on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris at
fabiobv@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at
fconnelly@bloomberg.net