The Rugby World Cup, taking place in New Zealand at the moment, is reinforcing the already well established idea, both internally and externally,
that Societe Generale is THE Rugby bank.
There is good reason for this, to be found in our organisation’s loyalty to the sport for the last 25 years, and in our commitment to supporting amateur and professional Rugby, both nationally and internationally.

And if Societe Generale has become THE Rugby bank, it’s also because we made our name in the sport as early as 1910. The bank’s athletic club (CASG) prioritised the game, and its team was one of the best Fifteens in the country. Several players and employees were selected to represent France. Our company was fully involved in the major international competitions of the era, like the Olympic Games (1920 and 1924) and the Five Nations championship. This Rugby culture survived in the club right up to the 1980s.

Such strong and long-lasting links between a company and a sport are rare. In present day Europe there are six corporations which, understanding the importance of sport in nurturing team spirit, have chosen to support the development of a single sport since 1910: Michelin, Peugeot, Casino, Phillips, Fiat and Societe Generale. Reading the list, one notices that the majority are industrial firms. This makes sense, since Rugby, which was born and codified at the end of the 19th Century, is a pure product of industrialised societies, and so distils their values.
How to explain, then, the presence of the Casino Group, from the mass retail sector, and Societe Generale? In the case of Casino,
the group’s origins lie in Saint-Étienne, in the heart of an industrial region, and its founder, Geoffroy Guichard, adopted the same approach as the captains of industry around him. As for Societe Generale, the reasons go back to one of our core characteristics,
still shaping our identity today: our bank was founded by industrialists, with the intention of encouraging the development of the French economy and offering our services to businesses by financing their projects. So of course, our directors shared the same vision of sport as the world of industry in general.

Tell us about your vision of sports in a firm. And share with us your experiences and questions.