SG Private Banking reinforces its senior management team in the Middle East

SG Private Banking, the wealth management arm of Société Générale Group, is reinforcing its presence in the Middle East by appointing two new senior managers: Eddy Abramo as Chief Executive Officer of SG Private Banking (Middle East)* and Eric Lorentz as Managing Director and Global Market Manager for Arab High and Ultra-High Net Worth clients.

Eddy Abramo will be responsible for pursuing the growth strategy of the private bank in the Middle East, through its offices in Bahrain, Abu-Dhabi, and Dubai. In particular, he will supervise the development of dedicated products and services for Arab and Indian private clients.

Based in the United Arab Emirates, Eric Lorentz will lead and coordinate SG Private Banking’s worldwide marketing activities for the Arab clients of its offices in Europe and the Middle East. His extensive experience in building and running profitable businesses with the wealthy clientele of the Middle East will be key in the development of the private bank in this region.

These key appointments confirm SG Private Banking’s ambitions to be a major player in the wealth management industry locally and demonstrate its strong continued commitment to the region.

*Legal name: Société Générale Bank and Trust (Middle East)

Eddy Abramo, 37, is a graduate of the Sorbonne University in Paris where he obtained a master’s degree in finance. He joined the Société Générale Group in 1997 as a discretionary portfolio manager for SG Private Banking in Paris and remained in this position until 2002, when he joined Société Générale Asset Management, where he was responsible for creating a discretionary management product offering. In 2006, he returned to SG Private Banking as Global Head of the Hedge Fund Advisors centre of expertise.

Eric Lorentz, 49, is a graduate of the University of California Los Angeles, where he obtained his MBA, and of the American University of Beirut. He started his career in 1985 in Citibank Bahrain as a foreign exchange trader before running several of the bank’s treasury operations in Africa. In 1992, he joined Citibank Private Bank in New York where he assumed responsibility for its Swiss, French and Benelux clients before moving to JP Morgan in 1994 where his role focused on the Middle East. Starting in 2001, Eric Lorentz led the development of Barclays’ private banking business in the Middle East supervising the London, Geneva and Dubai teams.  He then returned to the Gulf in 2006 to establish several wealth management initiatives in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Regulated by the DFSA

Société Générale
Société Générale is one of the largest financial services groups in the euro-zone. The Group employs 163,000 people worldwide in three key businesses:
Retail Banking & Financial Services: Société Générale serves more than 30 million individual customers worldwide.
Global Investment Management & Services: Société Générale is one of the largest banks in the euro-zone in terms of assets under custody (EUR 2 906 billion, June 2009) and under management (EUR 333 billion, June 2009).
Corporate & Investment Banking: Société Générale tailors solutions for its clients across sectors by capitalising on its worldwide expertise in investment banking, global finance, and global markets.
Société Générale is included in the socially-responsible investment indexes: FTSE4Good and ASPI.
www.societegenerale.com

SG Private Banking
SG Private Banking, the wealth management arm of Société Générale, is one of the leading private banks worldwide, with EUR 71 billion of assets under management at the end of June 2009.

With 2,900 staff in 21 countries across the globe, SG Private Banking offers wealth management solutions to entrepreneurs and High Net Worth Individuals with financial assets in excess of one million euros. In addition, SG Private Banking provides dedicated solutions to Ultra High Net Worth Individuals and Family Offices around the world, notably through its global alliance with Rockefeller&Co.

SG Private Banking’s offering includes international wealth planning and fiduciary services (trust and tax planning), a global expertise in structured products, hedge funds, mutual and private equity funds, real estate investment solutions and access to capital markets.

In 2009, SG Private Banking was rewarded by Euromoney with the titles of ‘Best private bank worldwide and in Western Europe for its offer in structured products’ and ‘Best Private Bank in Japan and Luxembourg’. Among the top 3 private banks in Europe, it was also named in 2009 ’Outstanding Wealth Manager for Family office services’ with Rockefeller & Company by Private Banker International.
www.sgprivatebanking.com