Société Générale chief executive Slawomir Krupa said regulators would prevent AI from rapidly transforming banking, even as the French lender targets up to €600mn in AI-driven savings by 2029. Krupa told the Financial Times that banks are "so regulated and so supervised" that trust requirements create supervisory barriers to speed, though not to ultimate disruption. His comments came during a strategy update Monday outlining €1.9bn in gross cost savings by 2029, a renewed cost-cutting drive, and plans to return more than €21bn to shareholders between 2026 and 2029.

Soc Gen announced a strategic agreement with Anthropic to accelerate AI adoption, with savings expected primarily from IT improvements in coding, system simplification, and process automation. Krupa said client-facing AI adoption would be slower, noting banks "better know exactly what's going on." The bank targets average annual revenue growth of 3 per cent, a return on tangible equity of 13-14 per cent by 2029, and a cost-to-income ratio below 55 per cent.

Krupa, who has led Soc Gen since 2023, said the bank is in a "completely different situation" from three years ago when it faced insufficient capital and reputation issues from a €4.9bn rogue trading scandal and €3.3bn Russia exit loss. Shares rose nearly 4 per cent in Paris trading Monday. The bank will reorganise its French retail business to integrate Bourso Bank with its branch network and private bank, while investing in prime broking, hedge fund services, and its investment bank.