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Emmanuel Macron’s most powerful and longest-serving adviser has stepped down to take a senior role at Société Générale, leaving a big hole in the operations of the Élysée Palace with two years left of the French president’s term.
Alexis Kohler, a 52-year-old civil servant who has served as chief of staff at the Élysée since 2017, will be responsible for leading mergers and acquisitions and financing activities at the French bank, and will also help chief executive Slawomir Krupa with a turnaround plan.
Sitting in an office only steps away from Macron’s, Kohler was across all major economic and political issues in France, acting as the first port of call at the presidency for everyone from ministers to chief executives. A Macron loyalist, he was part of the group of political neophytes known as the “Mormons” who helped the president storm to power.
Fans and detractors alike credit Kohler with safeguarding the president’s agenda of business-friendly reforms, pro-European policies and rebuilding domestic industry. Kohler outlasted six prime ministers and about 200 ministers.
In his new role at SocGen, starting in June, Kohler will be an executive vice-president at France’s third-largest bank by market capitalisation, after BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole.
Reporting directly to Krupa, Kohler will oversee and co-ordinate teams in SocGen’s investment banking division and support the execution of the chief’s plans to raise capital reserves and cut costs as part of a strategy outlined in September 2023.
Kohler’s broad portfolio, which also includes leading teams in communications and human resources, will make him one of the most powerful members of the bank’s executive committee.
The French government’s ethics watchdog reviewed and approved Kohler’s move to the bank, although there could be potential conflicts given his piloting of government operations and policies in development.
Kohler has been under formal investigation since 2022 for allegedly favouring the interests of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, the Swiss-Italian maritime shipping group controlled by his cousins, the Aponte family. The alleged events took place when Kohler was in a previous government job before the Élysée, and he has denied wrongdoing.
The appointment is a coup for Krupa, who took over as SocGen chief in 2023 and has taken an axe to the bank’s spending, sold off several key business units and already reworked his top team.
His strategic plan to raise capital reserves was initially viewed sceptically by investors, but shares have rallied almost 60 per cent this year as the strategy begins to bear fruit.
The bank has faced strikes in recent weeks over job cuts and a failure to reach pay deals with unions. But Krupa told the Financial Times in an interview this month that “nothing was sacred” as he seeks to deliver on his cost-cutting drive.
