The entrance to the headquarters of French bank Societe Generale. Photo / Reuters
The entrance to the headquarters of French bank Societe Generale. Photo / Reuters
KEY POINTS:
French bank Societe Generale (SocGen) said fraud by a single trader had caused it a 4.9 billion euro ($7.1 billion) loss. Following are some details on the trader, the fraud and the bank:
THE SCANDAL:
* SocGen blamed a lone, Paris-based trader in his thirties who handledfutures contracts on European stock market indices, betting on broad share market movements. His salary was less than 100,000 euros a year.
* The bank was in the process of dismissing him and said his managers would also leave the company.
* SocGen is to raise 5.5 billion euros in fresh capital to strengthen its balance sheet.
* The board rejected a resignation offer from Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Bouton. Bouton and his deputy Philippe Citerne gave up their salaries for six months.
* The bank announced further write-downs of 2.05 billion euros related to the global credit crunch.
THE BANK:
* Societe Generale was founded in 1864 in the reign of France's Emperor Napoleon III.
* It employs around 120,000 people, more than 50 per cent of them outside France, and has 22.5 million customers worldwide.
* It is the Euro zone's seventh largest bank by market capitalization, according to Reuters data.
