France's largest banks by market capitalisation BNP Paribas and Societe Generale yesterday said they would nearly halve employee bonuses in 2012 from the year earlier, reflecting a decline in the banks' performance in 2011.

BNP Paribas said it will cut bonuses paid to its employees across the globe, mainly from investment and corporate banking, by 52% to €489m; Societe Generale said it would cut bonuses by 44% to €410m, according to documents posted on their respective websites.