Société Générale SA CEO Frédéric Oudéa dismissed talks of pending cross-border mergers in Europe, saying it is "not the priority" for the French lender, Reuters reported.
Oudéa made the remark amid speculations of a potential merger between SocGen and Italy's UniCredit SpA.
The CEO said during a Goldman Sachs investor conference that he does not see cross-border mergers at present since "the environment is not that clear," according to the report.
Although the potential deal would be a game-changer for cross-border M&A in Europe, analysts said it would yield limited savings, an opinion Oudéa echoed, saying: "I don't believe today you have very significant synergies between retail activities in different markets."
Instead, Oudéa said the most obvious option in today's environment was a domestic retail consolidation, Reuters said. He also reportedly reiterated that there are too many banks in Europe and that a reshuffle would be needed in the long term.
