Societe Generale is about to fight for a bigger slice of America’s fixed-income and equities markets at the expense of battling it out for mergers and acquisition deals. There is a new energy at the French bank in New York. It has plastered mid-town Manhattan with advertisements relating to its “building team spirit together” campaign, and is preparing to move to a new home on Park Avenue – Bear Stearns’ old headquarters – with a trading floor the size of three American football fields, or two Wembley-size pitches.

In March last year it hired Craig Overlander, former co-head of fixed income at Bear Stearns, to grow market share in the US fixed-income and equities markets. As part of this strategy, the bank also acquired the physical commodities trading business from RBS Sempra for an undisclosed sum.