Société Générale replaces administrative director

Mark Kaplan was appointed chief administrative officer for the Americas. His responsibilities include overseeing the bank’s resources in the US, Canada and Latin America, including the chief financial officer, information systems, operations, human resources, facilities, sourcing and purchasing, and business continuity. He replaces Jean-Pierre Coulier who has taken a senior management position with the bank outside the US.

Kaplan previously was General Counsel for the Americas, and headed up the bank’s legal and

compliance departments for the region. He will retain his chief legal officer responsibilities until a replacement is named.

Earlier this year, Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking said that it plans to increase investment banking headcount by 750 people globally in 2007. The bank employs 120,000 people worldwide.

In January Jean-Pierre Mustier, chief executive of the corporate and investment bank, said the US division would be split into three product-based groups, to be headed by Bill Schmid, Francois Barthelemy and Paolo Taddonio, in order to implement a client-focused platform across asset classes.

Schmid heads up US coverage, capital raising and the financing division, including capital markets activities, structured finance and hedging. Taddonio heads up the new fixed income, currencies and commodities unit, and Barthelemy runs the global equities and derivatives solutions group.