Frédéric Oudéa has big plans for Société Générale, one of which is to become a top-three player in mergers and acquisitions to match its dominance of equity derivatives in Europe.

To help it get there, the new executive chairman of France’s third-biggest bank will on Monday announce that it has hired Thierry d’Argent, a former managing director at JPMorgan, as the first step in finding 20 senior sector bankers and 15 M&A specialists to lead the expansion.