It is a bitter irony for Daniel Bouton that he should have acknowledged defeat in his bid to stay on at Société Générale on the day that his rival Michel Pébereau, chairman of BNP Paribas, was savouring victory with the acquisition of Fortis bank.

Mr Bouton’s presence at the helm of one of France’s oldest banks was always seen as a deterrent to BNP, which tried and failed to take control of SocGena decade ago.