BNP evaluating whether to bid for SocGen: source

LONDON (Reuters) - French bank BNP Paribas has internally not ruled out bidding for Societe Generale, its domestic rival hit by a rogue trading scandal, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The Paris-based bank would be attracted to buying SocGen by the domestic growth in retail banking, the person said. On the other hand, BNP and SocGen's investment banks have a lot of overlap, and BNP is less enthused about that side of a tie-up, the source added.

BNP declined to comment.

Internal discussions at BNP are at a preliminary stage, and any move is unlikely to be imminent, said the person, adding BNP was extremely unlikely to pounce without at least informal French government approval.

The bank could also wait and see how successful a planned SocGen rights issue is before deciding whether to pursue a bid.

SocGen escaped an earlier takeover bid by BNP Paribas in 1999. Since then, there has been much speculation that the two might merge, though BNP Paribas has repeatedly played it down.

The recent share price fall at SocGen, whose value has more than halved since last spring, as well as a feeling that its current management may struggle to regain credibility after the scandal, is making BNP re-evaluate its position, said the person.

BNP is still at the stage of just weighing up the pros and cons and may decide not to proceed with an offer, said the person.

(Reporting by Mathieu Robbins, editing by Will Waterman)