Chairman of French bank BPCE acquitted in conflict of interest case

PARIS (Reuters) - A French court on Thursday acquitted BPCE bank Chairman Francois Perol of accusations of having an illegal conflict of interest when he was appointed head of France's second-biggest retail bank because he was a presidential advisor.

Prosecutors had been seeking a two-year suspended sentence, a 30,000 euro ($33,759) fine and a ban on Perol holding public office.

Perol, 51, had denied any wrongdoing in the trial to determine whether his nomination to his current job in 2009 was illegal given that he was previously a top economics advisor to then president Nicolas Sarkozy.

He was put in charge of BPCE after it was created by a merger of cooperative banks Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne to prevent - with state aid - their investment banking arm Natixis from collapsing in the financial crisis.

The banker denies that he played any decision-making role during the negotiations over the merger, which were closely followed by the presidency.

French law bans public officials from working for companies over which they have had direct authority in the previous three years.

($1 = 0.8887 euros)

(Reporting by Chine Labbe; Writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by James Regan)