Redefining our purpose to give meaning to our actions and guide our choices for the future.

Giving meaning to our actions, guiding our choices for the future, reaffirming what drives us when we come to work and serve our clients... Like many of you, these are concerns that I think about, as a CEO naturally, but also on a personal level, as a citizen and as a father.

The younger generations ask us today what we are doing to make our societies more inclusive and our world more sustainable. Clients and shareholders are increasingly looking to have a positive impact through their consumption or investment choices. Our staff have high expectations around the meaning they get from their work, a deep desire to contribute actively to the challenges of their company and our societies. This raises the question of the purpose of our companies.

Societe Generale was created 155 years ago to play a role in developing trade and industry in France. That was our original purpose, to be a bank that promoted progress. We have always strived to help develop the economy in the long run, through innovative solutions, which we have achieved by building a solid and sustainable bank with a pioneering spirit. It is with the same long-term approach that we are engaging with the world as it is today: a world in which economic development goes hand-in-hand with environmental and social progress.

This new world has prompted us to redefine our purpose. To this end, we have been working intensively and collaborating within the Group in recent months. 85,000 contributions from our staff, and more than 50 nationalities. Workshops with teams in direct contact with clients, young staff members, managers from all disciplines. Contributions from a survey carried out in 2017 on more than 1,500 stakeholders. On foot of that work, we reached agreement on the wording that expresses our purpose, which the Group's Board of Directors approved a few days ago.

Building together, with our clients, a better and sustainable future through responsible and innovative financial solutions.

This purpose is engaging. Each and every word counts and is the expression of a strong conviction about the specific and differentiating way in which we wish to carry out our banking business. In defining our purpose in this manner, we are reaffirming, without arrogance but with determination, our ambition to continue playing a driving role in the world's positive transformations.

Yes, our business activities are needed more than ever to finance, secure and support the projects of all those involved in building the world of tomorrow. Yes, our ambition is to create solutions with and for our clients that drive entrepreneurship and help them progress, by providing the financial security that allows them to bring to life and develop their projects. Yes, we want to make our contribution, as a driver of renewable energy financing, by working on sustainable development in Africa, the redevelopment of cities and their infrastructure, the emergence of new shared and sustainable transit solutions, and so forth.

But we must be realistic: we face immense collective challenges - geopolitical, ecological, economic and technological. This cannot be done in a day. We must ensure continuous progress. But we can and we must do more than we are doing today! Let’s stay humble but determined. Our purpose will guide us in defining our forthcoming strategic plan.

Over and above our expressed collective ambition, each and every one of us, in our everyday actions and our decisions, must ask ourselves: am I taking a step towards a better and more sustainable future? With this mindset, together, step by step, we will make our purpose a reality, acting to ensure the sustainability of our company, and that of the world around us.