Career

After his education at École nationale d'administration and Ecole Polytechnique in France, Oudea worked in the economic sector of the French civil service from 1987 until 1995. His work at this time included working as Technical Adviser in the office of Nicolas Sarkozy, then Minister of Budget and Communication in 1993. He also worked in a number of other government offices including the audit department of the ministry of finance, the ministry of economy and finance, the budget ministry, and the cabinet of the ministry of treasury and communication. According to one report, the highlight of his career in the service was in 1993 his time with Sarkozy.

Oudea joined Société Générale in 1995 after being recruited by the then CEO Daniel Bouton and has worked in various positions within the bank since that time, in Paris and London. His first role was as deputy head of the bank’s corporate banking division in London, where he later became head. In 1998, he was appointed to head the group’s global supervisory arm and was in charge of development of the equities division. He then served as Deputy CFO and CFO of the bank from 2002 until May 2008 when he took up his current position of CEO.

In November 2014, Oudea was elected as the president of the European Banking Federation, effective 1 January 2015, succeeding Christian Clausen, president and CEO of Nordea Bank, who had served two years consecutively in the role. Oudea also took the role for a term of two years. He stated upon his appointment, “I am very proud of the trust placed in me and am looking forward to take over from Christian Clausen, who directed the European Banking Federation in a period marked by profound changes in regulations for the European banking sector. While Europe is experiencing a fragile economic recovery, promoting a strong and competitive banking sector in Europe, being able to finance growth in the face of the growing movement of disintermediation will be one of the priorities of FBE. To help realise this ambition, the FBE will be keen to encourage a constructive dialogue with key regulatory authorities and European supervision.�