PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> Chief Executive Frederic Oudea's bonus rose 75 percent last year to 1.2 million euros ($1.56 million), even as France's No. 2 bank moved to cut costs and sell assets. The disclosure follows a rise in pay for Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, the head of larger rival BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, whose bonus rose more than 40 percent to 1.68 million euros in 2012 - his first full year as CEO of France's biggest listed bank.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's government should pursue reforms aimed at making the country a more attractive place to do business, instead of simply cutting taxes or interest rates to improve returns, billionaire financier André Esteves said on Tuesday. Even though the country needs a softer tax burden on companies similar to that of peer emerging market nations, the emergence of a new middle class is demanding other reforms, Esteves, the chief executive officer of BTG Pactual Group <BBTG11.SA>, said at an event in São Paulo.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley <MS.N> investors received a penny less in profit per share last quarter due to legal expenses that were booked between the company's earnings press release on April 18 and the time it made its quarterly regulatory filing on Tuesday. The bank originally reported earnings attributable to common shareholders of $958 million, or 49 cents per share, but revised that to $936 million, or 48 cents per share, according to Morgan Stanley's 10-Q filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

By Laura Noonan LONDON (Reuters) - It has taken banks years to rein in their optimism and start setting targets they have some chance of meeting, finally chastened by conspicuous failure in meeting the unrealistic expectations they touted. After the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008, industry survivors reacted to the crisis of confidence in the sector by reassuring shaken investors with a raft of promises to show they were ahead of a perilous game.