Become a client

Are you a client? You should contact your private banker. 
You are not a client but would like to have more information about Societe Generale Private Banking? Please fill in the form below.

Local contacts

France: +33 (0)1 53 43 87 00 (9am - 6pm)
Luxembourg: +352 47 93 11 1 (8:30am - 5:30pm)
Monaco: +377 97 97 58 00 (9/12am - 2/5pm)
Switzerland: Geneva +41 22 819 02 02
& Zurich +41 44 218 56 11 (8:30am - 5:30pm)

You would like to contact us about the protection of your personal data?

Please contact the Data Protection Officer of Societe Generale Private Banking France by sending an email to the following address: protectiondesdonnees@societegenerale.fr.

Please contact the Data Protection Officer of Societe Generale Luxembourg by sending an email to the following address: lux.dpooffice@socgen.com.

For customers residing in Italy, please contact BDO, the external provider in charge of Data Protection, by sending an email to the following address: lux.dpooffice-branch-IT@socgen.com

Please contact the Data Protection Officer of Societe Generale Private Banking Monaco by sending an email to the following address: list.mon-privmonaco-dpo@socgen.com

Please contact the Data Protection Officer of Societe Generale Private Banking Switzerland by sending an email to the following address : ch-dataprotection@socgen.com

You need to make a claim?

Societe Generale Private Banking aims to provide you with the best possible quality of service. However, difficulties may sometimes arise in the operation of your account or in the use of the services made available to you.

Your private banker  is your privileged contact to receive and process your claim.

 If you disagree with or do not get a response from your advisor, you can send your claim to the direction  of Societe Generale Private Banking France by email to the following address: FR-SGPB-Relations-Clients@socgen.com or by mail to: 

Société Générale Private Banking France
29 boulevard Haussmann CS 614
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.

In the event of disagreement with the bank  or of a lack of response from us within 2 (two) months of sending your first written claim, or within 15 (fifteen) working days for a claim about a payment service, you may refer the matter free of charge, depending on the nature of your claim, to:  

 

The Consumer Ombudsman at the FBF

The Consumer Ombudsman at the Fédération Bancaire Française (FBF – French Banking Federation) is competent for disputes relating to services provided and contracts concluded in the field of banking operations (e.g. management of deposit accounts, credit operations, payment services etc.), investment services, financial instruments and savings products, as well as the marketing of insurance contracts.

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

 

The Ombudsman of the AMF

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

 

Personal finance: pledging your loyalty to the real rewards - lessons drawn from loyalty programs

As we start the new year, we’re resetting the counters on a many number of things, including our loyalty cards. An interesting parallel can be drawn between this specific type of programme and certain aspects of our personal finances.

Loyalty programme points... as raised by researchers

There is a relatively high volume of research-based literature on the psychological effects of loyalty cards. One study, published in February 2006(1), focuses on rewards cards for free coffee. The authors demonstrate that as consumers get closer to earning their free coffee (after 10 visits), their visits become more frequent. They also highlight that is not a question of habit: when given a second loyalty card from the same franchise, a customer will go back to their initial pace of purchasing, and again accelerate their purchases as they approach the reward.

Loyalty programmes also successfully play on the illusory shortening of distance to the goal. A 12-stamp card with two “welcome” stamps (instead of a 10-stamp card to be stamped with each visit) increases engagement in the loyalty programme. As the study shows, customers that have a card with two pre-stamped boxes make their purchases 20% faster to complete their card.

There has also been research on other discount-related psychological effects. For example, it has been proven that we prefer smaller but consistent discounts (less 5% at each check-out)(2), rather than one bigger discount once loyalty has been verified. Indeed, according to the American annual Loyalty Barometer(3) one of the biggest pain points of loyalty programmes — by far — is rewards that take too long to earn (almost double the votes of the second identified pain point). This preference for immediate gratification was brought to light in 1970 by two researchers at Stanford University(4). In their “Marshmallows” experiment, children were given the choice of having a few treats right away, or waiting 15 minutes, the treats in plain sight, to have twice as many treats. Numbers aside, the general conclusion was that rather than the prospect of more treats, it was by distracting themselves from the immediate reward by playing, singing — and even sleeping! — that made it easier for the children to wait.

Four recommendations for the price of three!

The research on loyalty programmes is interesting in that it changes our perception of the benefits of a purchase and what truly constitutes a “good deal”. In finance, other than factoring in the risk/reward ratio, part of our decisions are in fact influenced by our perception ; our perception of the risk, of the reward, and the relationship between the two.

How can we use loyalty programmes as inspiration for better managing our finances?
- Firstly, while habit has a number of virtues, such as investing in the products and solutions we are already familiar with, we should challenge ourselves on a regular basis in order to break any potentially unsuitable habits. Numerous factors (our personal situation, the macro-economic environment, etc.) could make changing our practices (geographic diversification, interest in different products, etc.) worthwhile — provided it is consistent with our investor profile.
- Secondly, as the research shows, it makes more sense to set achievable, short-term goals in which we can invest more energy, and be incentivised to reach them. To give you an idea, rather than changing your entire wealth allocation, you could reallocate part of your portfolio now for a limited period of time, or open a savings or investment programme.
- Thirdly, the extent of the progress illusion that loyalty programmes create is a reminder to not fall for presentation (or the “framing”), and instead focus on the substance. This requires examining how the elements are presented before making any financial decisions.
- And, as promised, the fourth recommendation: engagement. Just as we care about the status we reach with certain loyalty programmes, and belonging to elitist clubs (Gold, Executive, etc.), we can experience the same sense of same engagement when investing our efforts into making decisions. And if you feel a decision no longer fits the bill, you are free to backtrack, despite the time spent making that decision.

Thank you, loyal readers! No cards needed here. See you in a few weeks for the next article!


(1) “The Goal-Gradient Hypothesis Resurrected: Purchase Acceleration, Illusionary Goal Progress, and Customer Retention”, Kivetz, Ran, Oleg Urminsky, and Yuhuang Zheng. Journal of Marketing Research 43, no. 1: 39-58, 2006.
(2) “Attention in delay of gratification”, Walter Mischel and Ebbe B. Ebbesen (Stanford University), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 16, Iss: 2, 1970.
Further reading: “When it comes to loyalty programs, customers want immediate benefits and they’re willing to pay”, Tom Caporaso, September 2021.
(3) “Loyalty Barometer Report”, published by Merkle/Dentsu, 2022
(4) “Attention in delay of gratification”, ibid.

GENERAL WARNING:

Societe Generale Private Banking is the Societe Generale Group business line operating through its registered office within Societe Generale S.A. and departments, branches or subsidiaries, located in the territories mentioned below, acting under the brand name “Société Générale Private Banking” and distributors of this document.

This document, of an advertising nature, has no contractual value. Its content is not intended to provide an investment service, it does not constitute investment advice or a personalised recommendation on a financial product, or a personalised advice or recommendation on insurance, or a solicitation of any kind, or legal, accounting or tax advice from any entity under any of Société Générale Private Banking.

The information contained is for information purposes only, may be modified without prior notice, and is intended to communicate information that may be useful for decision-making. Any information on past performance reproduced does not guarantee future performance.
Changes in inflation, interest rates and exchange rates can have negative effects on the value, price and income of investments denominated in a currency other than that of the investor. Any simulations and examples contained in this publication are provided for illustrative purposes only. This information may be modified in response to market fluctuations and the information and opinions contained in this publication may change. No Société Générale Private Banking entity undertakes to update or modify this publication, which may become obsolete after consultation, and will not assume any responsibility in this regard.

The scenarios presented are estimates of future performance, based on past information on how the value of an investment varies and/or current market conditions, and are not accurate indications. The return obtained by investors will have to vary according to the market performance and the duration of the investment’s retention by the investor. Future performance may be subject to tax, which depends on the personal situation of each investor and is likely to change in the future.
For a more complete definition and description of risks, please refer to the product prospectus or, where applicable, to other regulatory documents (if applicable) prior to any investment decision.
The offers related to the activities and financial and financial information mentioned in this document depend on the personal situation of each client, the legislation applicable to them and their tax residence. It is the responsibility of the potential investor to ensure with his legal and tax advice that he complies with the legal and regulatory provisions of the jurisdiction concerned. This publication is in no way intended to be distributed in the United States, nor to a US tax resident, nor to any person or jurisdiction for which such distribution would be restricted or illegal.  Offers related to the activities and financial and wealth information presented may not be adapted or authorised within all Société Générale Private Banking entities. In addition, access to some of these offers is subject to certain eligibility conditions.
Certain offers related to the activities and financial and wealth information mentioned may present various risks, involve a potential loss of the entire amount invested or an unlimited potential loss, and therefore be reserved only for a certain category of investors, and/or be adapted only to knowledgeable investors eligible for these types of solutions.

Therefore, before any investment service, financial product or insurance product is purchased, as the case may be and as applicable legislation, the potential investor will be questioned by his private banker within the Societe Generale Private Banking entity of which he is a client about his knowledge, his experience in investment matters, as well as his financial situation including his ability to bear the losses, and its investment objectives including its risk tolerance, in order to determine with it whether it is eligible to subscribe for the financial product(s) and/or the investment service(s) envisaged and whether the product(s) or service(s) is/are compatible with its investment profile.

The potential investor should also (i) be aware of all the information contained in the detailed documentation of the proposed service or product (prospectus, regulations, articles of association, document entitled “key information for the investor”, Term sheet, information notice, contractual conditions, etc.), in particular those related to the associated risks; and (ii) consult its legal and tax advice to assess the legal consequences and the tax treatment of the product or service envisaged. His private banker will also be at his disposal to provide him with further information, to determine with him whether he is eligible for the envisaged product or service which may be subject to conditions, and whether he meets his needs.
Consequently, no entity reporting to Societe Generale Private Banking may in any case be held responsible for any decision taken by an investor based solely on the information contained in this document.

This document is confidential, intended exclusively for the person who consults it, and may not be communicated or disclosed to third parties, nor reproduced in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the Société Générale Private Banking entity concerned.

The Societe Generale Group maintains an effective administrative organisation taking all necessary measures to identify, control and manage conflicts of interest. To this end, Societe Generale Private Banking entities have put in place a conflict of interest management policy to manage and prevent conflicts of interest. For more details, Societe Generale Private Banking clients can refer to the conflict of interest policy available on request from their private banker. 

Societe Generale Private Banking has also put in place a policy for handling complaints made by its clients, available upon request from their private banker or on the Societe Generale Private Banking website (www.privatebanking.societegenerale.com).

SPECIFIC WARNINGS BY JURISDICTION 

France: Unless expressly stated otherwise, this document is published and distributed by Société Générale, a French bank authorised and supervised by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution, 4, place de Budapest, CS 92459, 75436 Paris Cedex 09, under the prudential supervision of the European Central Bank (“ECB”) and registered with ORIAS as an insurance intermediary under number 07 022 493 orias.fr. Societe Generale is a French limited company with capital of €1,062,354,722.50 at 18 July 2022, with its registered office located at 29 boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris, and with a unique identification number of 552 120 222 R.C.S. Paris. More details are available on request or at www.privatebanking.societegenerale.com. 

Luxembourg: This document is distributed in Luxembourg by Société Générale Luxembourg, a public limited company registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register under number B 6061 and an authorised credit institution governed by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (“CSSF”), under the prudential supervision of the European Central Bank (“ECB”), whose registered office is located at 11 avenue Émile Reuter – L 2420 Luxembourg.  More details are available on request or at www.societegenerale.lu. No investment decision of any kind could result from reading this document alone. Société Générale Luxembourg accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or other characteristics of the information contained in this document. Societe Generale Luxembourg accepts no responsibility for the actions taken by the addressee of this document solely on the basis of this document, and Societe Generale Luxembourg does not present itself as providing advice, in particular as regards investment services. The opinions, views and forecasts expressed in this document (including its annexes) reflect the personal opinions of the author/authors and do not reflect the opinions of other persons or of Société Générale Luxembourg, unless otherwise stated. This document was prepared by Société Générale.  The CSSF has not carried out any analysis, verification or control over the content of this document.

Monaco: This document is distributed in Monaco by Société Générale Private Banking (Monaco) S.A.M., located at 11 avenue de Grande Bretagne, 98000 Monaco, Principality of Monaco, governed by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution and the Commission de Contrôle des Activités Financiers. Financial products marketed in Monaco may be reserved to qualified investors in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 1.339 of 07/09/2007 and Sovereign Order No. 1.285 of 10/09/2007.  More details are available on request or at www.privatebanking.societegenerale.com.

Switzerland: This document may constitute advertising within the meaning of the Financial Services Act (“FinSA”). It is distributed in Switzerland by SOCIETE GENERALE Private Banking (Switzerland) SA (“SGPBS” or the “Bank”), whose head office is located at rue du Rhône 8, CH-1204 Geneva. SGPBS is a bank authorised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). This document cannot be considered as investment advice or recommendation by SGPBS. The Bank recommends obtaining professional advice before acting or not acting on the basis of this document and accepts no responsibility for the content of this document. Financial instruments, including in particular units of collective investment schemes and structured products, may only be offered in accordance with FinSA. Further information is available on request from SGPBS or at www.privatebanking.societegenerale.com

This document is not distributed by SG Kleinwort Hambros Bank Limited in the United Kingdom or by its branches in Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar acting together under the brand name “SG Kleinwort Hambros”. Consequently, the information provided and any offers, activities and financial and wealth information presented do not concern these entities and may not be authorised by these entities or adapted in these territories. Further information on the activities of Societe Generale’s private banking entities located in the territories of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, including additional legal and regulatory information, are available at www.kleinworthambros.com.

Édouard Camblain Investment Advisor