Société Générale Société anonyme (GLE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good afternoon. The pandemic has led us to organize this meeting without your actual presence. We're deeply sorry. And we do hope that we will meet you again at the next opportunity. You have, nevertheless, received all useful information for your -- be able to vote within the normal time frame. As you know, the only decision impacted by this crisis relates to dividend. You know why. The European Central Bank relayed the governments' conviction to strongly recommend that banks should not pay out any dividend before the first of October. And therefore, the Board on the 31st of March had decided to propose to your meeting to pay out dividend for 2019. And this payment was not possible before the 30th of September. The Board of Directors did not decide after that date to pay out an interim dividend or an exceptional dividend. A decision will be taken after the results for the first half have been published, taken -- based on the decisions to be made by the European Central Bank in autumn. You sent in written questions via electronic means included. And many of you voted because we have reached a quorum of [ 62.767% ]. A record. It is now time to open up this general meeting held at first notice according to the official gazette. And that was made on the 15th of April 2020. The general meeting -- the joint general meeting can therefore be duly held. During this meeting, as usual, we will address the result. That should be done by Diony Lebot, Director General. And we'll talk about strategy with Frédéric Oudéa speak about corporate governance and compensation; with Jean-Bernard Lévy, the Chairman of the Compensation Committee; and myself, and we'll thereafter vote on the resolutions. Philippe Aymerich will also present how the group in France has managed to -- has been able to manage its branches and customer relations during this very difficult period. We'll also answer for 5 written questions. All written questions and the answers will be available on the website for this general meeting. We will also answer the different issues addressed to us after the survey carried that with you. They are clear and correspond to the main concerns following from the crisis. We'd like to look at the consequences of this crisis from an operational standpoint for you as shareholders, and to look at the strategy and value creation in the current context. Innovation, CSR, although they're less of a priority amongst your questions, are key issues for the future, nevertheless. In addition to Frédéric Oudéa and myself, 4 general managers are present: Diony Lebot, in charge of Risk, Finance and Compliance; Philippe Aymerich, in charge of Retail Banking in France and Technological Innovation and IT as well as Group Resources; [ Séverin ] Cabannes, in charge of supervising large customer relations and large investor; and Philippe Heim, in charge of International Retail Banking, Financial Services and Insurance. And members of the Board were all called upon by phone or via the Internet to attend. We'll now form the bureau for our general meeting. And were appointed, as vote tellers, the 2 shareholders who accepted and who have per -- in them the largest number of votes per se or through representatives. The Société Générale fund, represented by [ Mr. Henri Bruce ], Chairman of the Supervisory Board; and [ Mr. Bernard Sassman ], Deputy Secretary General of the Group. We thank them for their approval. And we suggest that, as secretary of the meeting, we should appoint Patrick Suet, General Secretary of the Board of Directors. Let me point out that as needs be, given the technical constraints linked to this lockdown, the Board has decided that Frédéric Oudéa may act as Chairman for the smooth running of this meeting. The statutory auditors were convened according to law and regulations. I'm referring to in Mr. Micha Missakian, representing Ernst & Young and others; and Mr. Jean-Marc Mickeler, representing Deloitte and Partners. I hold at your disposal on the bureau of our meeting, the usual documents listed up here. Let me add that the documents, information to be given according to law. The list is also stated here, we regularly put online on Société Générale's website, and were sent to the shareholders and were kept at the disposal of the shareholders at our headquarters each year. Our discussions are broadcast live on the Internet and may be viewed on our website. You can also follow them over the phone. As each year -- no, I'm sorry. Before giving the floor to general management, I would like to send out several messages directly on my behalf. First of all, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you the best possible health in the face of this unprecedented pandemic since in [ one central ] now. To group employees and general management, I'd like to express our gratitude for the professionalism that they showed throughout this crisis. You should know that our number one concern was the safety of each and every one of you and your good health. To our clients, I'd like express our total commitment to support them throughout the crisis. Lastly, once we are back to a good health situation, our activity will no longer be the same. The context would be different because states expect of banks not only to drive funding, but also to be active in promoting a recovery. The different players will have to review the rules and we'll have to define the new model. And the new financial pathway. With general management, the Board is already working hard. So that in January -- based on has been adopted in January 2020, I'm referring to the need to build together with our customers a brighter, sustainable future, providing responsible and innovative financial solutions. To begin this general meeting, I will give the floor, first of all, to Diony Lebot to present the results for 2019 and for the first quarter of this year. Over to you.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, in the particular context described by our Chairman of an unprecedented crisis, let me present the results for 2019. In 2019, the group continued its transformation with great determination and posted results in line with the objectives it had set for 2019. The assessment is characterized by strengthening of the group's equity and its financial strength, which are essential elements in light of the COVID-19 crisis we are facing. As you know, the first effect marked the results for the first quarter 2020, which I will come back to later on, of course. But to begin with in 2019, while the environment remained unfavorable both on interest rates and on the financial markets, we managed to achieve all the objectives we had set ourselves. Both financial and extra financial results for 2019 reflect the good commercial dynamics of the business lines and the strict cost discipline and a good risk control. We have continued to refocus our activities on our areas of strength, applied great discipline in terms of organic growth and implemented the announced restructuring of some of our capital market activities. These actions have enabled us to strengthen our shareholders' equity resulting in a significant improvement in our solvency ratio, which rose from 10.9% at the end of 2018 to 12.7% at the end of 2019. This was our number one priority. Our capital liquidity ratios, as a whole, are well above regulatory requirements. The actions carried out in all our businesses have improved the group's profitability. Net banking income of the business lines were resilient in 2019 at EUR 24.8 billion, down slightly by 0.8%. Thus, illustrating the good performance of our business lines. In 2019, we continued to implement our savings plans which amounted to approximately EUR 1.6 billion, and which led to a decrease in our underlying operating expenses of nearly 1%. Nevertheless, we continue to invest in digitizing our businesses so as to improve the customer experience and optimize our operating model. The cost of risk remains very low at 25 basis points at the lower end of the range announced to the market. This reflects the great discipline in origination and risk management that has been applied for several years now, resulting in a high-quality and diversified loan portfolio. The underlying net income group share reached EUR 4.1 billion, and underlying return on equity was 7.6%. And now the performance of each of our businesses for 2019. First of all, retail banking in France to our 3 banners: Société Générale, Crédit du Nord and Boursorama. This year saw the continuation of our conquest of all our target customer bases, our online bank, Boursorama, continued its strong growth of more than 500,000 new customers, enabling it to interest target of 2 million customers 1 year ahead of schedule. Volumes also grew, with outstanding loans to individuals and corporates up by 7%, and the medium-term loans to companies up by 6.8%. Lastly, we continue to transform our networks by streamlining our branch network in France and digitizing for a better customer experience and an optimized operating model. In terms of financial performance, we achieved objectives we had set for ourselves. Revenues grew in 2019 by 0.3%. Although the interest margin remained under pressure due to low interest rates. Operating expenses were kept under control and decreased -- increased slightly to 1.3%. French Retail Banking's return on equity rose to 11.1% versus 10.9% in 2018. Now International Retail Banking and Financial Services. First of all, in International Retail Banking. The commercial momentum has remained very sturdy this year in all parts of the world where we operate: Western Europe, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia and Africa. Outstanding loans increased by between 6% and 9%, and outstanding deposits by between 2% and 13%. In Financial Services, insurance had an excellent year with growth in life insurance outstandings of more than 8%, combined with an increase in the unit-linked rate by nearly 3 points. In our Corporate Financial Services businesses, business was also very buoyant with a 2.5% increase in equipment financing outstandings and a 6% growth in the fleet of our vehicle leasing business, ALD. Against this backdrop, revenues from Retail Banking and International Financial Services grew by 4.6% at constant scope and exchange rates. And as in 2018, operating leverage is positive, with costs up by 4.3% after restatement of exceptional items, provisions for restructuring and asset tax in Romania. The level of return on equity allocated to these businesses is high at 17.9%. Finally, let me come back to the performance of the large client investor solutions bank. In 2019, we launched and successfully carried out a major restructuring of our activities. In particular, we closed certain market activities such as the principal commodities business and proprietary trading activities that were housed in our subsidiary, Descartes Trading, and we reduced the capital allocated to the least profitable market activities. The other activities of the Corporate and Investor Solutions division saw the revenues increase in 2019. Net banking income from Financing & Advisory grew by 3%. And our Asset Management and Private Banking businesses saw their revenues grew by 1%, excluding the disposal of our private banking activities in Belgium. In all, net banking income were down slightly by 1.6% compared to 2018, and up 1% excluding discontinued and divested activities. Excluding restructuring costs, operating expenses were down 2.5% year-on-year, reflecting the effects of the additional EUR 500 million cost-cutting plan initiated and fully secured in 2019. Underlying profitability remained resilient at 7.4% versus 7.8% in 2018. Let me dwell for a moment on our extra financial results. We have continued to strengthen in 2019 the group's commitments, enabling us to be recognized as a leading bank in the field of responsible finance. RobecoSAM, in 2019, placed us as the best environmental bank in the world. And the MSCI rating agency also upgraded our rating to AA. Indeed, we are one of the first banks to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking, and we strengthened our commitment to benefit the energy transition. Let us now turn on the financial strength of our group and the creation of shareholder value. As you can see, shareholders' equity group share continued to grow in 2019 by 4%, and by more than 15% as compared to 2014 at EUR 63.5 billion at the end of 2019. Tangible net asset value per share at EUR 55.6 at the end of 2019 are up by more than 12% compared to 2014. As we indicated in the press release on 31st of March last, we canceled the dividend that you wanted to propose to the vote at this general meeting in accordance with the recommendations of the European Central Bank not to pay a dividend before October. Frédéric Oudéa will come back to this important decision. To conclude, I would like to come back to the results for the first quarter of 2020, which, as you know, were marked by the first effects of the unprecedented health crisis we are currently experiencing. On the one hand, our retail banking, corporate financial services, insurance and fleet management activities were resilient over the quarter after a good start in January and in February. On the other hand, our capital markets activities were fully impacted by extremely difficult conditions on the financial markets from the second half of March, particularly in equity markets. Revenues from our structured products business were down sharply, due in particular to market dislocation and the cancellation of dividends by many companies and financial institutions in Europe. As a result, the group's revenues were down by 16.5% in this first quarter. Underlying operating expenses continued to decline at minus 3.6% compared to the first quarter of 2019. We announced additional cost-saving measures for 2020 between EUR 600 million and EUR 700 million. The cost of risk increased to 65 basis points, reflecting the first effects of the crisis. In conclusion, the efforts made in 2019 will enable us to tackle this crisis with a strengthened financial strength of our group, with a solvency ratio of 12.6%, meaning nearly 350 basis points above regulatory requirements and a solid liquidity position. Thank you for your attention. And then I give the floor to Jean-Marc Mickeler, who will speak on behalf of the auditors. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, let me, first of all, summarize our audit report and the consolidated financial statements on Pages 42 to 46 of our notice of meeting and the one on the annual financial statements from Pages 47 to 50. [Foreign Language]

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good afternoon. First of all, I hope that you are doing well and that yourself and your families have not been affected by COVID-19. I'm sure that we will remember this general assembly that we have held -- that we're holding, sorry, today with no one in the room today. A meeting such as this one is an opportunity to look back on the year that has just gone by and vote on a number of resolutions. But today, we will also be talking about the crisis that we are going through. And what will happen next. This crisis is the end of a 10-year growth cycle since the financial crisis. I'd like to go back quickly to the year 2019. You heard about Diony Lebot gave you the commercial and financial results of our different business lines, and I will not go over that. Again, 2019 was a year marked by progress during which we showed our quick ability to adapt. And I think that we've reached all the objectives that we set ourselves in the area of strategy, finance and extra finance objectives. We have also continued to refocus our business portfolio in our areas of expertise where we have critical mass and synergies within the group. This refocusing, along with a great deal of discipline, has allowed us to increase significantly our equity level, which was our number one priority, as Diony mentioned earlier. Our results have also captured a disciplined management of costs and risks, management of risks, based on the quality of our portfolio, and we've adapted our business lines when it was necessary especially in market activities and in banking -- in Retail Banking in France. And we've done also a lot of progress in the remediation programs. And we have met the very stringent deadlines that were set for us. We are going to continue with these programs that are staggered, for most of them, all the way until the end of 2021. Through all of these efforts, we will reinforce the group in the area of risk management by upholding the highest compliance standards. We've also delivered on our CSR objectives. For example, we are 1 year early on our objective of funding the energy transition to the tune of EUR 100 billion. So on our positioning on the structure of our balance sheet, we are entering into this new unknown period, this new unknown crisis. This crisis has been around since early March, and it has had an impact on our bottom line, like for many other companies, and it has had consequences for you, shareholders, as was mentioned earlier. For example, the suspension of the dividend for 2019. I know that you are both disappointed and frustrated by this. In spite of the fact, of course, that the 2019 results were good enough to provision for EUR 2.2 per share, the ECB in March required banks to suspend the payments of dividends until we have more clarity on the crisis to protect capital ratios. So in light of all this uncertainty and to be as careful as possible, we have followed this recommendation as has done the overwhelming majority of European banks. Our decision is, therefore, not unique. We will see a few quarters down the line where we stand and if we can pay these dividends at the end of the year, which is, of course, what I hope to do. Second consequence is a significant drop of the share price of Société Générale. It's been the case for most European banks. We have a 50% drop, but it's more significant for us, especially since we posted our results for the first quarter. Our current valuation is way off our equity and the intrinsic value of our assets. Generally speaking, the share price of European banks have dropped because of the economic circumstances, but also because of the visibility and stability of the regulatory environment. For the forthcoming quarters, we're going to work hard so that the market can change its perspective on our financial trajectory. And along with our peers, we need to convince our supervisors as to the necessity to clarify the regulatory framework to try enduring more investors. Of course, I'm not happy about the current situation. Our priority is to take the necessary steps quarter-after-quarter to adapt to the new context brought about by the COVID-19 crisis. The current crisis is unprecedented in terms of scope. It is an economic and a health crisis. Whole segments of the economy have shut down because of the lockdown. There is a lot of uncertainty for future quarters. With risks of a second wave of contamination, and the different scenarios for economic activity that capture recession between 7% and 13% for the more developed economies. These estimations go way further than what we lived through in 2008 and '09, and it will have consequences in the long run. Diony Lebot talked about the results for the first quarter of 2020, I'd like to go back to that very quickly. They are somewhat disappointing, but they do capture very different circumstances depending on the [ message ] that you look at. Whether it's market activities or investment solutions, we're going to take the necessary steps to improve these results. As Diony said earlier, our other business lines are delivering resilient performance in spite of the first impact of the crisis, and we are confident in their ability to weather the next few quarters. There will be an increase in the risk of cost, but we we'll try and mitigate as much as possible the effects of that on our net income. But this does not challenge in any way the financial situation and the robustness of the group. Our balance sheet is very strong, and that is crucial for the future and for us to bounce back. Overall, I would like to say that we will be able to weather this crisis, guide our clients forward as we have been able to do over the last 150 years. And we need to get to work immediately on our trajectory for the next few years. At the beginning of the year, we coined our [Foreign Language], and we heard it earlier from the President, so that it would give meaning to our actions and guide our choices for the future and set out what we have in mind when we come to the office every day. In other words, it's about building a better world with our clients for a better and more sustainable future by being both responsible and innovative. Since the beginning of the crisis, banks have been on the front line, along with states and central banks, to act as shock absorbers for our clients. In these unprecedented circumstances, we fully embody our [Foreign Language]. We demonstrate what responsible finance is all about. Three quick examples. First of all, we operate in a way to protect the health of our clients and our employees. This has always been and will remain our number one priority. I would also like to thank all of our teams across the world because their dedication is outstanding. Thanks to the commitment of our employees and the quality of our technological platforms, we have smoothly transitioned to new ways of working with tens of thousands of people working from home across the globe. And the bank is operating very smoothly for all of its clients across the whole planet. We have also maintained our branches. They remain open, and Philippe Aymerich will be talking about the French network in a minute. I would also like to pay tribute to our 5 colleagues who unfortunately have died of COVID-19. We have a -- sorry, of course, their families are in our thoughts. And we also have a thought for all of our colleagues who are still recovering from COVID-19. We are here to guide our clients with our own resources, but also by deploying the different government programs. Banks and the financial system were the starting point of the 2008 crisis. But today, we are an important link in the chain that can bring about solutions for the economy and help companies navigate these difficult times and save as much capacity -- production capacity and as much jobs as possible. All over the world, we are taking the necessary steps to help our clients, and we are deploying with great commitment the government programs. Philippe Aymerich, in that regard, will be talking about the government-backed loans in France. For the Société Générale, we received more than 70,000 requests for some EUR 17.4 billion worth of loans. During this crisis, we are standing by our clients, and we are reinforcing our relationship with them in spite of these difficult times. Today, more than ever before, we must act as a responsible economic agent. This is why we have a global solidarity program with a budget that could reach up to EUR 50 million. This budget will be used to pay into the different solidarity funds, but it will also help to support health care workers, researchers and to pay for emergency help in certain countries. My colleagues and myself have decided to pay into this plan, and we've told the Board of Directors that we will give up half of our variable share that will be given to us in 2020. Like all larger French banks, we have decided not to opt for partial unemployment. So it's not to be too much of a burden on the state's budget and to allow the state to help sectors that are more harshly affected. In that way, I believe that we've played a responsible role as a bank, and we will continue to do so by following our ambitious CSR road map. Now for the longer run, we are already starting to work on our 2021-2025 strategic plan in an environment that will be very different to that that we were used to. All over the world, we are going to be operating in fragile economic situations with more instability from a social and political point of view. So what will this world look like? I think that we need to be humble. The crisis is not over, so we mustn't be too hasty. But I do, nonetheless, believe that there will be some clear evolutions. First of all, we will need to protect our clients and to advise them even more when it comes to their savings. Secondly, we will have to continue to guide companies. First of all, so that it can beef up their financial structure, but also optimize their need for funding and financing. We will have learned also new ways of consuming, especially for banking services and new ways of working with digital tools. Now I'm sure that there will be some -- sorry, I'm sure that some obstacles have been lifted in some economic areas and millions of our citizens and friends and colleagues have discovered home working. So in these unique circumstances, I believe that we will also see a public opinion requesting more from companies from a CSR point of view. So we're going to adapt and adjust our company to this new post-crisis world. There will be more risk out there, but so more opportunities. We have many assets that we can rely on. First of all, we have a business model that is well balanced with retail banking and global banking branches that are working very well. And we also have very innovative models such as Boursorama, for example, or our automobile fleet management business line that is very relevant in current times. Secondly, when it comes to loyalty and trust, this is very important in the long run when it comes to our relationship with our clients. And this is why we stand out because our clients trust us. Secondly, we also stand out because of our presence in some areas that are a great promise for the future and for our future development, such, for example, as our presence in Africa. We also have a strong culture of responsibility of innovation and expertise. We also rely on high-end technology equipment that came in very handy during this crisis, and we also have a strong financial structure. We need, of course, to draw all the necessary lessons from that crisis. Look at how client behaviors are going to change in the future. We need to seize this opportunity to change our ways of working inside Société Générale by being disruptive and innovative to get that competitive edge and build our business. And like for previous years, we will have to be very careful when it comes to both costs, risks and also financial resources in an environment where there will be more constraints than ever before. We have, therefore, decided to focus on the post-crisis period. We're going to be champions in the area of customer satisfaction, so you must capitalize an investment when it comes to digital transformation. Secondly, we must clarify our actions in responsible banking to contribute towards an efficient and fair role in investment banking and has been a responsible employer. Let me remind you that we took very clear commitments when it comes to exiting coal, and we will define pathways in all of our loan portfolios in line with the Paris Agreement. And that will mean a gradual reduction in absolute value of our commitments in oil and gases of 2021. Lastly, the third area to improve are operational efficiency to reduce costs as well as to have a more efficient and simpler organization and processes. We will share this new plan with you in 2021 given us time to fully integrate the impacts of this exceptional crisis in our strategic and financial road map. To conclude, the European banking sector is, of course, deeply impacted by the outlook of a considerable slowdown in the economic activity. And that affects the general activities. But your company, in which you're a strong shareholder, has resources and the ability to overcome crisis, to react moving forward to build the future. Rest reassured that all our teams and your general management team are deploying an unlimited energy to serve our clients and to deserve the trust that you have placed in us, you, our shareholders, over the long term.

Thank you, Frédéric. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. We'll now move on to the part of our general Meeting devoted to corporate governance. In the universal registration document, as of Page 20, it -- and you saw the report on corporate governance. There you can read in detail the Board's management report, the reports of each committee as well as report related to the Chairman's activities. The Board has spent a lot of time in 2019 to follow-up on the implementation of the strategic plan in the context of less favorable than expected. It redefined financial targets, it approve risk appetite and the road map for capital. The Board also followed as best as it could all risks of all sorts, including social and environmental risks. It approved the declaration of extra financial performance. In accordance with the PACTE Law in France, the Board approved the reason [ for being ] based on debt of our bank. And Frédéric Oudéa just pointed out the terms thereof in his strategic presentation in 2019 as this year. The Board has received the representatives of the European Central Bank acting as bank supervisors. The Board also appointed once again this company directors, carried out their assessment and set the compensation. The Board also worked with the Nominations and Corporate Governance Committee on succession plans. You will find in the universal registration document on Page 91, in particular, the summary of the assessment of the work carried out by the Board of Directors. These assessments was carried out by an independent consultant. It is positive, both in terms of its composition and the quality of our work. The work conducted by the Board of Directors was largely fueled by done by the committees. I'd like to stress, in particular, the quality and the density of work carried out by the Risk Committee and the Audit Committee, and the Audit and Control -- Internal Control Committee. Let me remind you that the Risk Committee is specifically responsible for supervising risks linked to activities in the United States. We also improve training given to the members of the Board in certain complex matters such as accounting rules as well as on technological issues, such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, in particular. With respect to my personal role, I actively took part in contacts with regulators and met shareholders and international investors, and more particularly within the framework of the preparatory work for this general meeting. This year, 2 terms of office will expire. On the proposal of the Compensations Committee and the Nominations Committee, the Board proposes the following: First of all, the renewal of Juan Maria Nin Génova for a second term of office. Juan Maria Nin Génova is a member of the Risk Committee and the Compensations Committee. He has a great experience in banking, more particularly as the head of one of the largest retail banks in Spain. Secondly, the appointment of Madame Annette Messemer, she will be replacing Madame Nathalie Rachou, who has come to the end of our third term. And she chaired with efficiency and competence the Risk Committee since 2015, she is also a member of the Nominations Committee. We must thank her for her commitment or knowledge of the bank or experience on our financial markets. She played a key role over the past years chairing the U.S. Risk Committee as well. Thank you, Nathalie. Annette Messemer also has a great experience in banking and financial markets in -- at Commerzbank, in particular. She will bring an incomparable knowledge of the German bank, where the bank operates significantly, especially in financial services. I propose you should now listen to her presentation.

Ladies and gentlemen and shareholders. [Foreign Language]

Thank you, Annette. Let me point out that she has a lot of experience as well in France where she did here studies, and she's now an Independent Director at Essilor. And if you look here profile on Google, she will be joining the Risk Committee. And if you appoint her, she will be called upon to enter the Risk Committee and the Audit and Internal Control Committee. If you accept this proposal, the Board will remain perfectly balanced when it comes to gender equality. These 2 propositions fully are in line with the guidelines set by the Board when it comes to its composition. These 2 propositions confirm the Board's collective competence in all areas in terms of the -- its needs for diversity. You have the map of skills that you may consult later on. If you adopt the resolution proposed, the Board will therefore have 14 members with 2 employee representatives and 11 Independent Directors. Let me point out that in 2021, in -- pursuant to PACTE Law the Board of Directors will have one additional Board member representing shareholding employees. And one -- this is one of the amendments to the articles that will be proposed to you for you to vote upon. Thank you for your attention. Let me give the floor now to Jean-Bernard Lévy, who is the Chairman of the Compensation Committee.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. [Foreign Language]

Ladies and gentlemen, as pointed out by Frédéric Oudéa, the COVID-19 crisis had a significant impact on Retail Banking in France. From the start of the crisis, we set 2 objectives: to protect our clients and employees; and to ensure business continuity and to be present with our clients. The first step consisted and activated our crisis management units in our banks: Société Générale, Crédit du Nord and Boursorama; and at Sogécap, our insurance company. They had exchanges every day to coordinate their initiatives and to share best practices. At the start of March, actions were on setting up improved hygiene measures in addition to setting up social distanciation measures. We were raising against the clock to equip our teams with hand sanitizers, plexiglass and masks. Bear in mind that at the start of the crisis, we decided to give our stock of FFP/N surgical masks to health care workers. This act of civism and solidarity was evident for us. We then adapted the mechanism to operate with smaller teams because we were impacted by the pandemic directly. Up to 800 cases were sustained or suspected; or indirectly, through child custody and the principle of precaution to be applied to persons at risk. 90% of branches at Société Générale and Crédit du Nord were open and -- open to the public on appointment. There were disparities between regions, the large east sectors and Île-de-France were more impacted than others. Back offices were -- carried out the vital and critical activities, especially with respect to payments, thanks to the activation of all levers, working in shifts or extended working hours, remote working. The same applies to our telephone platforms, enabling us to keep close contact with our customers. Lastly, our applications and Internet websites played the role. We therefore noted and increase in the number of users showing that this crisis was an accelerator in enabling our customers to take ownership of these digital channels. Against this backdrop, we should mention the sharp rise in our ability to work remotely by deploying over 3,000 laptops and multiplied by 5 remote connection capabilities under good conditions with respect to keeping operational risks under control. Thanks to this adjusted mechanism, we're able to take actions by our customer sites. That was indispensable because the lockdown had a brutal impact on their activities. Private individuals reduced their operations and transactions. After a peak on the 17th of March, they came less in the branches and exchanges with customers were mainly over the phone or via email. And yet we sought to communicate actively, including via social media to provide support to our customers and to provide them on specific matters such as cybercrime risks. Within this context of lockdown, we noted a decline in loan applications and the volume of payments and [ monetics ], up to minus 60% for payment by cards and minus 70% for cash payments at the height of the crisis. The 2 significant exceptions to be stressed, nevertheless. On the one hand, customers of -- wealthy customers remained active and called upon our bankers to a large extent. Also, our stock market transactions remained strong. In March and April, we saw record years for Boursorama in terms of the number of accounts opened, multiplied by 5 as compared to 2019. And the number of orders passed multiplied by 4. boursorama.com in April was the third ranking website in France in terms of number of persons on the website. At the same time, business grew with our customers, corporates and companies. As of March, Société Générale and Crédit du Nord paid great attention to the situation of their -- about the corporates, especially in sectors that are the most impacted: catering, the hostel business, transportation or events organization. Contacts between customers, these customers and their customer and the branch managers were numerous and intense. Great attention was paid to cash management to -- as to ensure the payment of salaries and suppliers. Société Générale and Crédit du Nord were there for very much -- the initiative in terms of actions taken for these categories. We delayed by 6 months the payment deadlines for a total of EUR 1.8 billion to lower the initial shock of the drop in revenue. As of the 25th of March, our teams proposed to our customers the state-backed loans. We received on the 18th of May, 70,000 applications for EUR 17.4 billion. That's considerable. Over EUR 17 billion in 6 weeks, of which more than EUR 10 billion loans pre-granted to be compared to EUR 12 billion for the production of medium- and long-term loans for all of 2019, showing our resolve to support our customers. I must also share with you a message from a customer, which summarizes well what we have heard for many. I quote, "The state-backed loan funds are on our account. Good news that we need to manage the stress caused by this virus. So we're feeling better thanks to you, and we thank you for this." We continue to work with the public authorities and our counterparts with the situation of sectors that were largely impacted and in solving the tough situations facing companies. On top of these initiatives, we're looking towards the end of the crisis already. For the end of the lockdown, we are continuing to associate precaution and pragmatism, opening up our branches with regular working hours will be done gradually, depending on the local situations. We must also bring about the commercial recovery, especially as recently, we have seen positive signs with more requests being made for appointments at -- appointments at Société Générale and Crédit du Nord, 40,000 new customers at Boursorama and a sharp increase in the use of payment means, as was facilitated by the increase of EUR 30 to EUR 50 for contactless payments. Initiatives that were important at this turning point. We are relying on our investments in recent years, digital tools, expertise by our customer advisers, modular mechanisms and also the first learnings from this crisis, especially when it comes to remote sales and new offerings. Rest reassured, dear shareholders, that we will continue to support our customers as best we can and a key player role with energy and pride with respect to the economy of our country. It is our responsibility and our [Foreign Language], our reason for being. Thank you for your attention.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now going to move on to the written questions. As it was mentioned earlier, all the questions and answers are already available on the Société Générale website. We have received questions from 13 shareholders, and 5 of them will be answered in this general assembly. The first one is a question from the Forum for Responsible Investment. You can have the whole question -- or rather, the whole answer on the website, but Frédéric Oudéa is going to sum up the answer on bulk of the question.

So it's a 2-part question. First of all, you're asking for the list of our activities that are not compliant with the Paris Agreement? And what steps are going to be undertaken to withdraw from them in 2021? In 2019, we published our first TCFD, Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. In this report, we identified the sectors that are the most exposed to transition risks that make up 23% of our corporate loan portfolio. For most of these sectors, climate-related issues are both a risk and an opportunity. The group built, in 2019, a vulnerability indicator so as to carry out a more robust credit analysis. We've also reviewed coal investments, maritime transport, and we've got an exclusion policy for fossil fuels. These steps will be carried over in 2020. In 2019, Société Générale selected the sustainable development scenario from the International Energy Agency. Second part of the question, how is your CapEx aligned with a scenario as per the Paris Agreement? As soon as 2015, Société Générale decided to build methodology so as to align our business with the Paris Agreement. In 2016, we developed a first methodology and we have -- and then we set ourselves objective for the coal sector. And then, in 2018, we signed the Katowice Commitment jointly with 4 other international banks. This agreement is about having shared methodology and open source tools to measure our progress towards the objectives filed in that agreement. We also have some practical steps with a time line so that we can align all of our business with the Paris Agreement. For example, aligning sectorial portfolios in the next 3 years, helping our clients navigate the energy transition. And the working group that has been set up is working relentlessly on all of these issues.

Thank you. The floor is now to Diony Lebot to answer 2 questions from the charity, Amis de la Terre, on gas and coal.

I guess the first question is about our exposure, our financing of shale gas and oil. And the question is, are you going to take into account the risks that such investments represent? And how are you going to divest from these sectors and the whole value chain? As Frédéric Oudéa has just said, Société Générale is one of the banks that has been committed for a long time now to align their portfolio with the energy transition and with the Paris Agreement. And more specifically, we are one of the very first banks who have signed the Katowice agreement in 2018 and also the principle charter for responsible banking in 2019. In 2020, we will be talking more about the impact that it will have for the long-term trajectory of credit portfolio and investment portfolio for oil and shale gas. But for the moment, we are relying on the sustainable development scenario by the International Energy Agency. And in that regard, North American shale gas is, in our eyes, a transition energy. Gas is more efficient than coal when it comes to producing electricity. And therefore, in some countries, it is a transition towards a low-carbon economy. Société Générale, of course, gears all of these investments to CSR commitments and is constantly bolstering up its standards and pushing standards. Second question from Amis de la Terre on our investments in coal and our commitment to align ourselves with best practices when it comes to financing coal-related activities. There again, Frédéric Oudéa mentioned earlier that Société Générale, for quite a few years now, has been setting itself objectives to reduce the share of coal and thermal coal in our portfolio. We set an objective in 2015 that we have overshot by quite some distance. The objective was to limit 19% of coal in the energy mix that we finance. And right now, we are at 11.5%. So we are way ahead of our target. At the same date, our energy mix for financing electricity is made up of 51% of renewable energies. We have committed to exiting totally coal by 2030 for Europe and OCT countries, and 2040 for the rest of the world. Our strategy for coal and oil is regularly updated. I'm now going to hand over the floor to Séverin Cabannes, who is going to answer the third question from [indiscernible], it's a question about Mozambique.

Well, thank you very much, Diony. Dear shareholders, Société Générale has been asked to work on the Mozambique natural liquid gas for quite some time now. The operator is now Total since September, but previously Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. We make sure that Total is now fully aware of the importance of environmental and social-related issues. And we pushed them to follow the more stringent standards, including the Principles of the Equator, the standards of performance of the World Bank and the shared approaches of the OECD in terms of social and environmental diligence. After a number of attacks from -- carried out by the insurgence in the region of Cabo Delgado, a memorandum -- an MoU, sorry, was signed in 2019. And in this agreement is entwined the deployment of militaries to reinforce the security of that region, especially that of gas projects. Therefore, there will be logistical support for transport, housing and feeding of these military forces. Total and the LNG project fully subscribe to the principles of security and human rights. Like any gas-related project, we will be respecting our commitments in terms of environment and human rights and our fight against corruption. I would now like to answer another written question asked by Mr. Lalaina Rakotomalala about our activities. For market activities, what is the future for credit activities that have subpar profitability rate for 2020? Well, it's true that for these market activities for credit and loans, it has been quite tough so far in 2020, but it's not over. I'd just like to talk quickly about what these loan market activities are. First of all, there is the distribution of primary emissions. So our clients who finance themselves or debt capital market in short. Second kind of activity, market animation on debt instruments and loan instruments and some derivative flows. This business of market animation is crucial so that we can maintain our relationship with investors and that we can continue to issue primary emissions when they are needed. Now for the rest, we are fully aligned with the primary business that I mentioned earlier. Now for credit activity. The credit ETF, these trackers, these instruments are developing very quickly. Investors have got a lot of appetite for that kind of product. In this area, we've got a solid positioning that was reinforced recently when we reinforced our banking activities. And fourthly, I'd like to talk about the structured credit products. So investment products that we sell to our investors. Our investor clients are interested in these products because they allow them to diversify their investments. In short, there are products that are bought by our clients, it's a security and it pays according to its exposure to risk. And it's precisely on that kind of activity that the first quarter of 2020 was quite tough. These market activities as regards loans are very important when it comes to financing the economy. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, we have helped companies so that they could refinance themselves on debt markets. We have helped some 75 clients who needed to refinance themselves on the debt market. [ Unedic ] was one of the largest players who issued EUR 4 billion with a maturity running until 2026. So as you can see these businesses, this kind of activity is very important. We're going to continue. And it's true that we've suffered a lot in the first quarter, but we're going to keep a close eye on the results and on the areas where we can improve. Now I'm going to hand over the floor to Philippe Heim.

Thank you very much, Séverin. We have a question here from the advisory shareholder committee, and the question is, what is your development strategy for Africa? Quickly, I'd like to remind you what is important for us at Société Générale in Africa. We've got 17 retail banks in Africa. We've got a bureau of representation in South Africa and in Kenya. We've got 12,000 people working in Africa. Three million clients for retail banking. And over and beyond this overview for Africa, I'd just like to say that Africa for Société Générale is a long-standing relationship with our first penetration in the continent through Morocco. And with a lot of growth driven by the demographic dividend, the increase of credit, et cetera, et cetera. So the crisis has shown how resilient our setup in Africa is. We have been able to maintain all of our branches open for our clients. We've also been able to continue advising companies in Africa. We've got regional directors who help us oversee the network from West Africa, Morocco, Central Africa, et cetera. We -- also during the crisis, we're able to assess the quality. At Société Générale, we had an influx of deposits, we are considered as being a safe haven on the African continent. So what is our strategy for the development in Africa? Well, we're going to continue to be more attractive for companies in Africa. We're going to continue to tap the potential of retail banking in Africa. We serve, for example, a lot of people in the civil service in Africa and also wealthy individuals. We're going to work on attracting a new client base so that we are in a good position for the future. And to conclude, I'd just like to say that over and beyond our strategic objective to deliver for Africa, I'd like to say that given the fact that banking is so important in the area of development. We are going to be focusing specifically on everything that is sustainable. And in fact, we've built a plan that fosters the positive and sustainable development of Africa. So in support for infrastructure, energy and agriculture. For example, the dam of Nachtigal in Cameron. We also want to boost financial inclusion with mobile banking, for example, but also supporting SMEs with the different bureaus that we've opened up in Africa. So Africa is very crucial in the strategy of Société Générale.

Now for the fifth question from [ Mr. Guizimo ], a question about the profitability of the bank in the future. Well, thank you very much. For quite a few years now, we've been working on improving the allocation of capital by investing in more profitable projects and building synergies within the group. Against this backdrop, we have divested or interrupted the financing of some activities and investing in more profitable businesses. We are going to continue with this agile methodology. The group, Société Générale, is very disciplined when it comes to cost management. And in fact, the overheads have dropped by 1% for 2019. In 2020, we want to continue on that same line with the saving plan that is still underway. Add to this, the additional saving plans of EUR 600 million to EUR 700 million.

Well, thank you very much for all of these answers. Thank you, Frédéric, Diony, Séverin, Philippe. Thank you so very much. I'd just like to remind you that all of these answers are available on the website of the Société Générale. I hope that the questions that we picked have answered your concerns. And I'd now like to move on to the votes on the different resolutions. And to that end, I'm going to hand over the floor to Patrick Suet.

Well, for each resolution, I will be reading out the whole resolution. You can find it in the -- in your notice. You can vote online by post. The deadline was 18th of May, 3 p.m. for the vote. The results will be up on the screen for each resolution. The quorum was reached and mentioned earlier. So I'm not going to go back to this, but we have 567,385,068 voting rights represented. We're now going to move on to the first resolution, the approval of consolidated accounts for financial year 2019. The resolution is adopted at 99.79%. Second resolution approval of annual accounts for financial year 2019. The result is adopted at 99.77%. Third resolution, allocation of 2019 income. So no dividend as per the ECB's recommendation that was explained in detail by Frédéric Oudéa earlier, the result is 99.61%. Fourth resolution, approval of the statutory auditors report on regulated agreements. There were no new agreements. So the result is thus approved at 99.57%. Fifth resolution, compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors, that remains unchanged. The result is adopted 96.46%. Sixth resolution, compensation policy for the Chief Executive Officers or the Deputy Chief Executive Officers remains unchanged and was outlined by Jean-Bernard Lévy earlier. The result is approved, 97.3%. Seventh resolution, compensation policy for the directors. The global amount remain the same and the allocation as well. The result is approved at 98.88%. Eighth resolution, approval of the report on compensation for corporate offices. There, again, it's a new resolution. Jean-Bernard Lévy presented the report earlier. The results is approved at 96.6%. Ninth resolution, approval of the compensation paid in 2019 or awarded for financial year 2019 to Mr. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, and that resolution has been approved, 96.41%. Tenth resolution, approval of the compensation paid in 2019 or awarded for financial year 2019 to Mr. Frédéric Oudéa. That was outlined by Jean-Bernard Lévy earlier. The result is adopted at 96.71%. 11th resolution, approval of the compensation paid in 2019 or awarded for financial year 2019 to Mr. Philippe Aymerich. That resolution is approved, 96.81%. 12th resolution, approval of the compensation paid in 2019 or awarded for financial year 2019 to Mr. Séverin Cabannes. So approved 96.7%. 13th resolution, approval of the compensation paid in 2019 or awarded for financial year 2019 to Mr. Philippe Heim. Approved 96.78%. 14th resolution, approval of the compensation paid in 2019 or awarded for financial year 2019 to Ms. Diony Lebot. Results approved, 96.74%. 15th resolution, advisory opinion on compensation paid in 2019 to regulated persons. The budget is EUR 417.5 million and the result is approved, 99.33%. 16th resolution, renewal of Mr. Juan Maria Nin Génova as Director for a 4-year term of office. Result is approved, 99.32%. 17th resolution appointment of Ms. Annette Messemer as a Director for a 4-year term office, approved 99.99%. 18th resolution, authorization to buy back shares for 18 months, within a limit of 5% of capital. Result, approved 99.28%. Now we're moving on to the extraordinary part of the general assembly. 19th resolution, delegation of authority for capital increase with preemptive subscription rights maintained with a maximum of 33% of the capital for a period of 26 months. Result is approved at 98.47%. 20th resolution, delegation of authority for capital increase without preemptive subscription rights with a maximum of 10% of capital, and the result is approved at 92.69%. 21st resolution, authorization to proceed with a capital increase in order to remunerate contributions in kind, maximum 10% of capital, approved at 92.62%. 22nd resolution, authorization to proceed with a capital increase in the event of the issue of contingent convertible super-subordinated bonds with maximum 10% of capital. That resolution is the same as for 2018, and it has been approved once again, 93.06%. 23rd resolution, authorization to proceed with a capital increase as part of the company or group employee savings plan with a cap set at 1.5% of the capital 26 months and with a write-down of 20%. The result is approved at 98.96%. 24th resolution, reallocation of performance shares for regulated staff or considered as such, the cap is 1.2% of capital, including 0.1% for corporate officers. So the cap is slightly lower, it used to stand at 1.4%. And the result is approved at 97.3%. 25th resolution, allocation of free shares to employees who are neither regulated nor considered as such, with a cap of 0.5% of the capital. A slightly lower cap, it used to be 0.6% previously. The result is approved, 99.15%. 26th resolution, authorization to proceed with a cancellation of repurchased shares limit 5% of capital. The result is approved, 97.92%. 27th resolution, amendment to the requirements for exceeding statutory thresholds. Alignment with rules applying to legal thresholds and a streamlining or simplification for threshold to be reported, with threshold set at 1.5%, 3% and then in steps of 1%. Reporting time frame of 4 business days. And that has been improved at 83.61%. 28th resolution, implementing the packed law in order to calculate employee shareholding, and that was approved 98.98%. 29th resolution process for electing a director representing employee shareholders. That was covered earlier by Lorenzo earlier. It will increase the Board of Directors to the tune of 1 member in 2021. So the general meeting will have to choose this Board member in 2021. For the modification of the statutes, the result is approved, 98.96%. 30th resolution, statutory amendment authorizing the Board of Directors to proceed via written consultation within the limits set by law. Result is approved, 98.9%. 31st resolution, drafting amendments applied to the bylaws and applying the PACTE Law to the Board of Directors factoring in of social and environmental aspects of the company's business. That has been approved at 99.03%. 32nd resolution, powers for formalities. Result, 99.81%. And on that, I'd like to hand over the floor to Director for the conclusion.

Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your trust. And congratulations, Juan Maria and Annette Messemer, in particular, appointed directors, thank you for your trust. For 2020 (sic) [ 2021 ], the general meeting will be held on the 18th of May. We hope that we will be able to organize it under normal circumstances as in previous years. I wish to all of you that in the coming weeks, you remain in good health. And thank you once again for your trust. Have a wonderful evening, and thank you once again. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]