Risk Takers

Chapter 9 Société Générale and Rogue Trader Jérôme Kerviel

In 2008, Société Générale lost €4.9 billion ($7.2 billion) from excessive, one-sided positions taken by Jérôme Kerviel (JK), a junior trader working at the bank’s Paris-based Delta One unit. Of these losses, 100 percent occurred in just two-and-a-half weeks during January, with 70 percent during the last three days. Explaining how he lost so much in such a short period of time is relatively easy. But placing blame is a bit like writing a short story and allowing readers to choose their own endings. Was JK a brave derivatives trader whose actions exposed the underside of a corporate culture that treats illicitly earned profits with mild reprimands and gentle slaps on the wrist but equally ...