SocGen trader reportedly faced earlier inquiry
French bank Société Générale, at the centre of a huge trading scandal, began investigating trades executed by Jerome Kerviel months before his activities were exposed in January, the Financial Times reported. The FT said it had learnt that a senior...
French bank Société Générale, at the centre of a huge trading scandal, began investigating trades executed by Jerome Kerviel months before his activities were exposed in January, the Financial Times reported.
The FT said it had learnt that a senior executive of Fimat, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of SocGen, began investigating at the end of September deals executed by Fimat employee Moussa Bakir for Kerviel after being alerted to abnormally high volumes on his broking desk.
The Financial Times gave no source for the report.
SocGen declined to comment.
The Fimat executive raised questions about commissions paid to Mr Bakir on at least four cash equities trades for Kerviel.
But he uncovered nothing conclusive and the inquiry was not prioritised as he prepared for Fimat's merger with Calyon Financial that created Newedge, as the company is now known, the newspaper reported.
The investigation was still under way when Socgen discovered in January that Kerviel had separately built up unauthorised futures positions totalling €50 billion, trying to cover his tracks with faked hedges.