PARIS: France’s second-biggest bank Societe Generale said Monday that it had reached agreements with US and French authorities to settle inquiries into the rigging of Libor interest rates and its dealings in Libya.
The bank did not reveal how much it paid to end the cases, but said that it had already provided for the amount in its accounts and that it would have “no impact on Societe Generale’s results.”
The bank said last month it had set aside one billion euros ($1.2 billion) to settle both the Libor and Libya disputes.
It said the agreements reached with the French financial prosecutor’s office and the US Department of Justice would be submitted to the country’s courts for approval on June 4 and June 5 respectively.
In a statement the bank added that it would provide more details once the settlements were made public by the authorities.
Societe Generale joins a host of other banks that have reached settlements with US tax authorities for attempting to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), which governs credit costs around the world.
Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank paid $240 million to resolve claims that it conspired with other banks to manipulate the rate, while HSBC forked out $100 million.
Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas are among other lenders that have been forced to pay hefty sums to avoid potentially embarrassing court cases.
The legal woes weighing on Societe Generale were compounded by allegations that it channeled bribes to associates of slain Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s son Seif Al-Islam during Qaddafi’s reign.
Last year, Societe Generale paid nearly a billion euros to settle a case brought by the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
The LIA accused the French bank of paying at least $58 million to a Panama-registered company called Leinada as part of a “corrupt scheme” to get the LIA to invest billions in Societe Generale and its subsidiaries between 2007 and 2009.
Leinada was at the time headed by an associate of Seif Al-Islam.
While reaching a deal with the Libyan fund to end its long-running lawsuit, Societe Generale remained under investigation in the US and France over the affair.
The announcement by Societe Generale that it had settled with tax authorities marks an end to a scandal which led to the surprise departure of its deputy CEO Didier Valet in March.
Valet was one of two senior executives to step down, along with the bank’s head of retail banking.
The departures rattled investors, casting a pall over Societe Generale’s results in the first quarter, in which it booked higher-than-expected net profits of €850 million.
SocGen reaches deals to end probes on Libor, Libya
SocGen reaches deals to end probes on Libor, Libya
- The bank said last month it had set aside one billion euros ($1.2 billion) to settle both the Libor and Libya disputes
- Societe Generale joins a host of other banks that have reached settlements with US tax authorities for attempting to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate
Oman’s economy grows 2% in Q3 as bank credit expands
JEDDAH: Oman’s economy expanded 2 percent in the third quarter of 2025, supported by steady growth in non-oil activities, while bank lending continued to rise faster than deposits, underscoring improving domestic demand.
Gross domestic product at constant prices reached about 9.91 billion Omani rials ($26 billion) in the three months through September, up from 9.71 billion rials a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information.
The expansion was driven mainly by non-oil sectors, where value added increased 2 percent to more than 7.3 billion rials, Oman News Agency reported.
This comes after Fitch Ratings recently upgraded the Sultanate’s sovereign credit rating to investment grade at BBB-, projecting GDP growth of around 4 percent in 2025, driven largely by robust expansion in the non-oil sector.
Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings expects steady real GDP growth of about 2 percent a year through 2028, supported by ongoing economic diversification and momentum in the services sector.
“By economic activity, construction activities grew 1.3 percent to around 1.035 billion rials, while wholesale and retail trade increased 1.3 percent to 830.5 million rials. Public administration and defense rose 1.5 percent, reaching 932.5 million rials in Q3 2025,” the ONA report stated.
Oil sector activities increased 1.9 percent to nearly 3.07 billion rials, compared with just over 3.01 billion rials in the same period of 2024. Crude oil production rose 2 percent to more than 2.55 billion rials, while natural gas activities grew 1.6 percent to 512.8 million rials, up from 504.7 million rials a year earlier.
Meanwhile, total credit extended by conventional commercial banks in the Sultanate rose 8.5 percent by the end of November, with lending to the private sector increasing 5.8 percent to 21.9 billion rials.
“In terms of investment, total holdings of conventional commercial banks in securities grew 7.4 percent, reaching approximately 6.4 billion rials by the end of November 2025,” ONA stated in another report.
Within this category, investments in government development bonds rose 9.5 percent year on year to 2.2 billion rials, while investments in foreign securities declined 4.4 percent to 2.3 billion rials.
On the liabilities side, total deposits with conventional commercial banks increased 6.3 percent to 26.4 billion rials by the end of November.
Among total deposits, government deposits rose 7.6 percent to about 5.8 billion rials, while deposits from public sector institutions fell 25.6 percent to roughly 1.9 billion rials.
Private sector deposits climbed 9.5 percent to 17.8 billion rials in November, accounting for 67.2 percent of total deposits with conventional commercial banks.
