(Bloomberg) -- Societe Generale SA plans to cut about 900 jobs at its French head office as part of Chief Executive Officer Slawomir Krupa’s plan to cut costs and strengthen capital.

The reductions represent about 5% of the head office staff at the Paris-based lender, SocGen said in a statement Monday that confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg News. The plan will avoid forced departures and consultations with unions are expected to be completed in the second quarter.

SocGen joins banks across the globe in seeking to reduce headcount as the tailwind from rising interest rates peters out. Last week, Deutsche Bank AG announced plans to cut as many as 3,500 jobs, mostly across its back office. In the US, Citigroup Inc. said it will eliminate 20,000 roles, as CEO Jane Fraser thrust the bank in its biggest restructuring in decades.

Krupa has pledged to cut expenses by €1.7 billion by 2026 and bring the firm’s cost-to-income ratio below 60%, to help bolster the lender’s capital strength. His strategy, announced in September, triggered a selloff in the stock at the time because he also dropped profitability, growth and payout targets set by his predecessor Frederic Oudea. 

SocGen rose 0.8% at 9:01 a.m. in Paris trading, paring losses over the past 12 months to 16%.

While SocGen said it expected to save €600 million by boosting the efficiency of its IT systems, it also intends to simplify the organization. Ongoing projects, such as the merger of the bank’s domestic retail units or the integration of Leaseplan in its car-leasing unit Ayvens — formerly known as ALD — are also expected to help improve efficiency.

Former CEO Oudea announced thousands of job cuts in the 15 years he spent at the helm. The successive rounds of dismissals weighed on corporate morale, which Krupa has struggled to restore so far. An internal poll late last year showed that employees’ faith in decisions taken by top management declined from a prior survey, with just 53% saying they trust the choices made, Bloomberg News has reported.

The lender is expected to unveil its 2023 fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 8.

(Updates with details, industry context in second and third paragraph, adds share reaction in fifth)

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