Societe Generale Brings 130 Riders to Japan for Charity Bike Ride

More than 130 Societe Generale employees from the Asia Pacific region cycled through Japan’s mountainous Yamanashi prefecture and the metropolis of Tokyo to raise over EUR 110,000 for charity, the latest in a series of regional community engagement initiatives.

The 5th Asia Pacific Bike Ride took place on October 25 and 26 as part of Societe Generale’s Citizen Commitment Games, the solidarity-based challenge which is open to the bank’s employees worldwide on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the bank and emphasizes commitment and team spirit.

All money raised will go to charity partners which each market had chosen. Money raised by the 20 employees based in Japan will be donated to NPO Nadia, which supports victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region.

Societe Generale Chief Country Officer for Japan, Guillaume Burtschell, said: “The Asia Pacific Bike Ride 2014 was part of the Citizen Commitment Games, in which over 20,000 colleagues across the globe have participated so far. Together, we have achieved a record level of fund-raising for our local charity partners.”

The bike ride is part of the broader roll out of Societe Generale’s global community engagement efforts to support philanthropic and humanitarian causes as well as to benefit the livelihood of the communities in which the bank operates. Societe Generale’s social and charitable activities fall into three categories: Citizen Commitment, in which it partners with charitable organizations; Cultural Patronage, which focuses on support for classical music and contemporary art; and Sports Sponsorship, which supports the development and practice of rugby, golf and disabled sports.

Societe Generale recently announced its sponsorship of Hong Kong’s Valley Rugby Football Club. The sponsorship covers the upcoming 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons and is intended to help develop rugby talent at the grassroots level and support Hong Kong’s sporting community. In addition, Societe Generale is sponsoring the Singapore Cricket Club’s “SCC 7s” rugby tournament this year.

Societe Generale
Societe Generale is one of the largest European financial services groups. Based on a diversified universal banking model, the Group combines financial solidity with a strategy of sustainable growth, and aims to be the reference for relationship banking, recognised on its markets, close to clients, chosen for the quality and commitment of its teams.
Societe Generale has been playing a vital role in the economy for 150 years. With more than 148,000 employees, based in 76 countries, we accompany 32 million clients throughout the world on a daily basis. Societe Generale’s teams offer advice and services to individual, corporate and institutional customers in three core businesses:

• Retail banking in France with the Societe Generale branch network, Credit du Nord and Boursorama, offering a comprehensive range of multichannel financial services on the leading edge of digital innovation;

• International retail banking, financial services and insurance with a presence in emerging economies and leading specialised businesses;

• Corporate and investment banking, private banking, asset management and securities services, with recognised expertise, top international rankings and integrated solutions.

Societe Generale is included in the main socially responsible investment indices: FTSE4Good (Global and Europe), Euronext Vigeo (Global, Europe, Eurozone and France), ESI Excellence (Europe) from Ethibel and 4 of the STOXX ESG Leaders indices.
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Societe Generale: 150 years

In 2014, Societe Generale Group celebrates its 150th anniversary with a focus on entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and team spirit. Founded by a group of industrialists and financiers, the bank’s very name illustrated their ambition: "Société Générale pour favoriser le développement du commerce et de l’industrie en France” (“Societe Generale to support the development of trade and industry in France"), as written into the Imperial decree signed by Napoléon III on 4 May 1864.

Societe Generale has always served economic development, contributing to the financing of infrastructures that symbolised the modern world and of leading French groups. Societe Generale was among the first French banks to open branches in London and in Russia in the 1870s, before expanding into the Maghreb, New York and Africa and to set up operations in Central European countries.

Societe Generale has always been at the cutting edge of financial innovation, and takes strength from its origins to assert its banking vision for the future, reinvent its businesses to serve its clients and become the reference bank of the 21st century.

Nadia
Nadia is an international volunteers group focusing on helping the recovery of the Tohoku region, which was devastated by the natural disasters in March 2011. Its priority is to help the community in concrete and visible ways, with low overheads, and to aid in the reconstruction of the region.

For more information about Societe Generale Citizenship activities, please visit our Citizenship section