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Société Générale Private Banking France
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75421 Paris Cedex 9

Societe Generale Private Banking France undertakes to acknowledge receipt of your claim within 10 (ten) working days from the date it is sent and to provide you with a response within 2 (two) months from the same date. If we are unable to meet this 2 (two) month deadline, you will be informed by letter.

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The FBF Ombudsman will reply directly to you within 90 (ninety) days from the date on which she/he receives all the documents on which the request is based. In the event of a complex dispute, this period may be extended. The FBF Ombudsman will formulate a reasoned position and submit it to both parties for approval.

The FBF Ombudsman can be contacted on the following website: www.lemediateur.fbf.fr or by mail at:

Le Médiateur de la Fédération Bancaire Française
CS 151
75422 Paris CEDEX 09

 

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The Ombudsman of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF - French Financial Markets Authority) is also competent for disputes relating to investment services, financial instruments and financial savings products.

For this type of dispute, as a consumer customer, you have therefore a choice between the FBF Ombudsman and the AMF Ombudsman. Once you have chosen one of these two ombudsmen, you can no longer refer the same dispute to the other ombudsman.

The AMF Ombudsman can be contacted on the AMF website: www.amf-france.org/fr/le-mediateur or by mail at:

Médiateur de l'AMF, Autorité des Marchés Financiers
17 place de la Bourse
75082 PARIS CEDEX 02
FRANCE


The Insurance Ombudsman

The Insurance Ombudsman is competent for disputes concerning the subscription, application or interpretation of insurance contracts.

The Insurance Ombudsman can be contacted using the contact details that must be mentioned in your insurance contract.

To ensure that your requests are handled effectively, any claim addressed to Societe Generale Luxembourg should be sent to:

Private banking Claims department
11, Avenue Emile Reuter
L-2420 Luxembourg

Or by email to clienteleprivee.sglux@socgen.com and for customers residing in Italy at societegenerale@unapec.it

The Bank will acknowledge your request within 10 working days and provide a response to your claim within 30 working days of receipt. If your request requires additional processing time (e.g. if it involves complex research), the Bank will inform you of this situation within the same 30-working day timeframe.

In the event that the response you receive does not meet your expectations, we suggest the following:

Initially, you may wish to contact the Societe Generale Luxembourg Division responsible for handling claims, at the following address:

Corporate Secretariat of Societe Generale Luxembourg
11, Avenue Emile Reuter
L-2420 Luxembourg

If the response from the Division responsible for claims does not resolve the claim, you may wish to contact Societe Generale Luxembourg's supervisory authority, the “Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier”/“CSSF” (Luxembourg Financial Sector Supervisory Commission):

By mail: 283, Route d’Arlon L-1150 Luxembourg
By email:
direction@cssf.lu

Any claim addressed to Societe Generale Private Banking Monaco should be sent by e-mail to the following address: servicequalite.privmonaco@socgen.com or by mail to our dedicated department: 

Societe Generale Private Banking Monaco
Middle Office – Service Réclamation 
11 avenue de Grande Bretagne
98000 Monaco

The Bank will acknowledge your request within 2 working days after receipt and provide a response to your claim within a maximum of 30 working days of receipt. If your request requires additional processing time (e.g. if it involves complex researches…), the Bank will inform you of this situation within the same 30-working day timeframe. 

In the event that the response you receive does not meet your expectations, we suggest to contact the Societe Generale Private Banking Direction that handles the claims by mail at the following address: 

Societe Generale Private Banking Monaco
Secrétariat Général
11 avenue de Grande Bretagne 
98000 Monaco

Any claim addressed to the Bank can be sent by email to:

sgpb-reclamations.ch@socgen.com
 

Clients may also contact the Swiss Banking Ombudsman: 

www.bankingombudsman.ch

 

"The Art of Collecting" podcast - Episode #5: The art of valuation — how is a work of art or a collectors’ item evaluated?

Play on Spotify
Play on Apple Podcasts

Full Script:

 

Laurent Issaurat:  Hello, my name is Laurent Issaurat, Head of Art Banking Services at Societe Genérale Private Banking, and I am pleased to welcome you to our podcast series “The Art of Collecting” that explores issues relating to the ownership and management of artworks and collectors’ items. Today we will focus on the art of valuation. We are often asked how the price of artworks and collectibles is determined, particularly in the context of a prospective sale at auction or a transfer of ownership or maybe the insurance of a work of art or a collectible. How do valuations really work? What criteria and methodologies are used? To answer these questions I am joined by Victoire Gineste, Head of Business Development and Auctioneer at Christie’s France(1). Welcome Victoire!

Victoire Gineste: Hello Laurent.

Laurent Issaurat: To start with, could you please try to define what makes the value of a work of art, Victoire?

Victoire Gineste:  First, it is important not to confuse the ‘value’ of an artwork and the ‘price’ of an artwork. Keep in mind that at auction houses we talk about the value on what is called the secondary market, which means, the resell price. An object can have an emotional, decorative, historical or symbolic value that is not necessary linked to its financial value and, and therefore, to its price. Artworks are also in most cases unique objects, and so a whole range of criteria needs to be taken into consideration to define a value. Essentially, this means giving an opinion on the desirability of the artwork on what has become an increasingly selective market.

Laurent Issaurat: Thank you very much for this very important opening comment. In practice, when it comes to the valuation of a work of art, what are the main criteria an auction house would use?

Victoire Gineste: The first two criteria are intrinsic and specific to each piece or artwork: quality and rarity. This includes how well the artist is known, if the piece is authentic or not, it date, size, the subject depicted, and the technique that was used. In addition to the prestige of the artist, the market will favour the best within their body of work — what they are known for and, ergo, what collectors are looking for. But other, more subjective criteria also come into play: changes in taste and lifestyles can directly influence the price of an artwork. The ecosystem surrounding artists is also important to consider: who is collecting their work, who is representing them on the market, do they feature in the collections of major museums, etc.? The notion of “freshness” to the market is another important factor. If an item is a discovery or a rediscovery, if it has been outside the market for several decades, or if it is presented for the first time at auction, it is all the more desirable. In contrast, if a piece is coming back and back on the market too soon it might sell for less money or could be not sell at all— a risk that can also apply to works of art that are in poor condition. This is something you constantly need to look out for. Lastly, by an object’s provenance or “pedigree” we mean the chronology of its successive ownership, but also any major exhibitions it was part of or any reference made to it in publications. Pieces from prestigious or historical collections have extra soul, so to speak, which has a positive impact on their price. Strictly speaking, there is no order of importance for the different criteria; each one must be taken into consideration, and it is ultimately up to the individual collector or buyer to weigh them up according to their own priorities.

Evaluating an artwork is certainly not an exact science. When our specialists are asked to prepare an estimate, they will examine the piece and the information available with respect to these criteria. In some cases, they may need to do additional research, speak with colleagues, and work with external authentication committees to confirm an artwork’s authenticity. Depending on the type of object or its value, our specialists may also request input from their counterparts in other offices abroad, who are specialised in their local market, and familiar with the taste of buyers in their region. To give an example, for the valuation a piece by the French-Chinese artist Zao Wou-Ki — highly sought-after by Asian collectors at the moment — our Paris team works in concert with the team in Hong Kong or in Shangai. This ability to meld cross-continental expertise for a single piece has become a decisive factor in a now entirely global art market.

Laurent Issaurat: This is really fascinating it seems that they are a myriad of criteria and factors you need to take into account in the valuation of a work of art. Now when it comes to figures, how do come to financial estimates?  Do you use benchmarks of transactions on the market of comparable works of art? How do you do this?

Victoire Gineste: With new technology and online databases, using comparable market data is for sure an integral part of the valuation process. That said, the data needs to be interpreted and contextualised by our experts. This is the very essence of any art appraisal.

Laurent Issaurat: Thank you Victoire. Now, a question that our listeners and clients will certainly ask is whether your estimates are confidential, and do they come at a cost?

Victoire Gineste: At Christie’s we provide worldwide estimates for free and without any obligation. They are also strictly confidential. Discretion is at the very heart of our relationship with the families we advise and work with, both when they sell or buy.

Laurent Issaurat: Excellent. Now, when it comes to the estimates themselves, there is often a lower and a higher end of the estimate. How does this work and what is the lower estimate in the respect of the so-called “reserve price”? Could you define what a “reserve price” is?

Victoire Gineste: Sure. At auction, the reserve price is the minimum price below which the item in question will not be sold. By law, it might not be higher than the low estimate but can be set below the low estimate - if so agreed. In most cases, we will suggest setting the reserve price at the low estimate and review, if it is necessary, the day before the sale, depending on the interest in the item. Of course, the reserve price it strictly confidential and remains between the owner of the item and the auction house.

 

Laurent Issaurat: This is very clear, thank you very much. During your career, I supposed you’ve processed to a number of different valuations. Has it ever happened that your experts made a discovery in the course of their research and that this discovery that would have significantly their initial view on the value of an item? And could you maybe you give us an example?

 

Victoire Gineste: I have many examples and could share a lot of stories with you! But let me take one from the jewellery collecting world. A few years ago, we were asked to estimate a brooch from a private collection. We gave initially an estimate between €20,000 and €30,000. But the finesse of the enamel, its delicate colours, and the craftsmanship of the wing joints caught our attention. We did some research to determine who could have created such a fine piece, which Maison, could have created it, and that’s how we found the drawing of a similar brooch in a book celebrating the work of Maison Boucheron. We contacted the teas and got the confirmation we were so hoping for: the brooch, which was representing a cicada, was indeed a Maison Boucheron creation. They issued us with a certificate for the brooch, as well as additional information. The cicada that was entrusted to us was one of seven rare pieces of its kind made around 1900. The final estimate was raised to between €50,000 and €80,000, and it sold in the end for €355,500(2), with premium.

Laurent Issaurat: What an amazing result, Christie’s, well done! This is much impressive. Victoire, I would like to thank you warmly for this very informative insight into the art of valuation. Dear listeners, I hope you have also enjoyed our conversation with Victoire Gineste today, I’m already looking forward to meeting you again in our next episode to explore the art of insuring collectibles and works of art. See you soon! Our series “The Art of Collecting” is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify via our programme “#PrivateTalk by Société Générale Private Banking”.

 


(1) Christie’s is a leading international name in the world of art and auction houses, and is one of the partners of our Art Banking service. For more about Christie’s: click here

(2) Price including the buyer’s premium, added to the hammer price. The buyer’s premium is calculated using a schedule that is published by the auction house ahead of the sale.

 

Would you like to discuss this subject further with us?

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Laurent Issaurat