French bank sets new record for fraud!
Wowee, zowee!
The French bank Société Générale said Thursday that it had uncovered “an exceptional fraud” by a trader that would cost it €4.9 billion, and that it was raising about €5.5 billion in new capital to shore up its finances.
The company, one of the biggest banks in France, said in a statement that the fraud, equivalent to about $7.1 billion, had been committed by a trader in charge of “plain vanilla” hedging on European index futures.
During a conference call, the Société Générale chairman and chief executive, Daniel Bouton, said the bank had started legal proceedings against the rogue trader, whom he did not identify; he also said the trader’s whereabouts were unknown. The trader is “on the run,” officials said…
On the run? The dude probably can buy his own A380.
The trader’s actions were found to be a case of “isolated fraud,” the bank said, and officials said they were convinced the trader had acted alone.
Speaking at an afternoon press conference, Christian Noyer, governor of the French central bank described the trader as a computer “genius.”
At least he was a geek.
Posted: Thu - January 24, 2008 at 12:05 PM