Rogue trader costs French bank billions

Last Modified: 24 Jan 2008
By: Samira Ahmed

France's Societe Generale says a rogue trader has lost the bank nearly 5 billion euros.

From winning a banking industry award this year for its highly regarded equity management, to being taken for a ride by a young rogue trader to the tune of £3.7bn - one banking analyst remarked that "at first this seemed like a joke". But Societe Generale's losses are now massive.

The bank will still make a net profit of between 600 and 800 million euros. But compare that to its income in 2006: 5,221 billion Euros.

So how did it happen? The bank claims the unnamed trader, young and "not very good", was able to conceal his losses because he had "in-depth knowledge" of the very control procedures designed to stop such frauds, having previously worked in that department.