Société Générale is planning to eliminate jobs in its New York office. The bank, one of the top lenders in France, is scaling back its aircraft, shipping, real estate and leveraged finance businesses. ‘‘It’s premature to give more information about the headcount,’’ said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the layoffs had not been finalized. Bloomberg News quoted Naseem Haffar, the United States head of loan sales and trading at Société Générale, as saying he was one of those who would be getting the ax. The bank is ‘‘going through some changes right now because of the European situation and as part of that they are cutting down on some businesses,’’ Mr. Haffar said to Bloomberg. ‘‘I feel frustrated because I built a very good team and it just feels that the bank should look in the long run as opposed to the short run.’’ Like other European lenders, Société Générale has begun reducing its dollar-financed businesses, after American money-market investors began over the summer to cut their exposure to European banks amid fears over the euro. In response to a request for comment, the bank said Thursday in a statement: ‘‘As announced in September, Société Générale is in the process of scaling down a certain number of corporate and investment banking businesses adversely affected by regulation, structural changes or with low cross selling potential. Therefore the bank is adjusting its international set up accordingly”.  [Dealbook 12/1/11]