Rogue trader 'just doing his job'
Updated on 28 January 2008
The Frenchman at the heart of one of the greatest trading frauds in history has said he did not mean to harm his bank.
Société Générale is reeling from the £3.75 billion losses incurred by 31-year-old Jerome Kerviel whose activities emerged last week.
Kerviel has confessed to police that he concealed his actions from superiors in a bid to enhance his reputation as a trader, not to damage SocGen, the Paris prosecutor has said.
The prosecutor said a formal fraud investigation has been opened and he had requested Kerviel be placed in temporary detention.
The former trader has now hired a new lawyer who hit back at SocGen's suggestions that he alone had masterminded the world's biggest trading scam from his desk.
Christian Charriere-Bournazel said: "He has not embezzled anyone, he hasn't taken a cent for himself and he was just doing his job as best he could."
The lawyer said Kerviel had been doing a trader's job by taking on risk, and accused the bank of setting him up for a "lynching".
Meanwhile, French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said SocGen is under no pressure to merge with another bank as its shares plunged.
On Monday, SocGen's shares tumbled 9 per cent after Citigroup said the French bank's franchise is "severely impaired".
Citigroup also speculated that British-based bank HSBC, which already has a big retail and commercial banking presence in France, might be interested in buying SocGen.
France's establishment is determined not to see SocGen taken over by a foreign rival as its market value sinks.
On Sunday, a top adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy warned the government would probably intervene if such a move was made.
SocGen's chairman, Daniel Bouton, has suggested he could still resign after such an offer was rejected last week as criticism mounts of his handling of the crisis.
The bank claims it is baffled as to why one of its more junior trading staff put his career and the bank at risk.
Corporate and investment banking chief Jean-Pierre Mustier said: "We don't know, we don't understand and it will be for the legal inquiry to find out."
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