Société Générale head Daniel Bouton, who faced criticism from President Nicolas Sarkozy after a huge rogue trading scandal, said yesterday he would resign to avoid further damaging the bank.
"The repeated attacks against me personally in France for the past 15 months affect me, but most of all, they risk harming the bank and its 163,000 employees," the chairman said in a statement.
The banker, who admitted "I certainly made errors," said he would not be receiving a "golden parachute" pay-off when he leaves Société Générale, France's third biggest bank by capitalisation, next month.
Société Générale shocked the financial world in January last year when it announced losses of €4.9 billion in a rogue trading scandal it blames on 31-year-old trader Jerome Kerviel, who is expected to stand trial.
Regulators slammed the bank's risk management practices and imposed a fine of €4 million. Mr Sarkozy, whose government has given Société Générale a state loan of €1.7 billion to help it survive the global financial cirsis, called for Mr Bouton to step down after the Kerviel affair.
The president later renewed his attack on the bank's chairman when Mr Bouton and other top executives refused to give up stock options. Mr Sarkozy was angry that money from the French state might be used to remunerate executives.
The bank's bosses last month caved in to public pressure and said they would not take the options. Mr Bouton told yesterday's Le Figaro, which first reported his resignation, that he had made a mistake by not declining the options. He tendered his resignation a short time after the Kerviel affair broke but the bank's board refused it. He was replaced as chief executive officer by Frederic Oudea while keeping his post as chairman.
This arrangement is now coming to an end, he told Le Figaro, and he will stand down on Wednesday when the board will elect a new chairman at its meeting the same day.
Société Générale was forced onto the defensive again this week when it denied a press report that it could face losses of up to €10 billion because of risky investments at one of its asset management units.
The left-wing daily Liberation said Société Générale's SGAM Alternative Investments unit had invested heavily in complex financial products, which had left the bank with €10.4 billion in "toxic" assets at the start of 2008.
The detailed report, splashed over Liberation's front and four inside pages and headlined "The Other Scandal at Société Générale," described the products as "unsellable."
But Société Générale said that Liberation had confused losses with asset transfers at the division. Bouton insisted in his statement yesterday that the future was bright for his bank. "Like any manager, I have certainly made mistakes, but the strategy adopted by Société Générale has made it one of the finest banks in the euro zone. I have faith in Société Générale's future," he said.
"The repeated attacks against me personally in France for the past 15 months affect me, but most of all, they risk harming the bank and its 163,000 employees," the chairman said in a statement.
The banker, who admitted "I certainly made errors," said he would not be receiving a "golden parachute" pay-off when he leaves Société Générale, France's third biggest bank by capitalisation, next month.
Société Générale shocked the financial world in January last year when it announced losses of €4.9 billion in a rogue trading scandal it blames on 31-year-old trader Jerome Kerviel, who is expected to stand trial.
Regulators slammed the bank's risk management practices and imposed a fine of €4 million. Mr Sarkozy, whose government has given Société Générale a state loan of €1.7 billion to help it survive the global financial cirsis, called for Mr Bouton to step down after the Kerviel affair.
The president later renewed his attack on the bank's chairman when Mr Bouton and other top executives refused to give up stock options. Mr Sarkozy was angry that money from the French state might be used to remunerate executives.
The bank's bosses last month caved in to public pressure and said they would not take the options. Mr Bouton told yesterday's Le Figaro, which first reported his resignation, that he had made a mistake by not declining the options. He tendered his resignation a short time after the Kerviel affair broke but the bank's board refused it. He was replaced as chief executive officer by Frederic Oudea while keeping his post as chairman.
This arrangement is now coming to an end, he told Le Figaro, and he will stand down on Wednesday when the board will elect a new chairman at its meeting the same day.
Société Générale was forced onto the defensive again this week when it denied a press report that it could face losses of up to €10 billion because of risky investments at one of its asset management units.
The left-wing daily Liberation said Société Générale's SGAM Alternative Investments unit had invested heavily in complex financial products, which had left the bank with €10.4 billion in "toxic" assets at the start of 2008.
The detailed report, splashed over Liberation's front and four inside pages and headlined "The Other Scandal at Société Générale," described the products as "unsellable."
But Société Générale said that Liberation had confused losses with asset transfers at the division. Bouton insisted in his statement yesterday that the future was bright for his bank. "Like any manager, I have certainly made mistakes, but the strategy adopted by Société Générale has made it one of the finest banks in the euro zone. I have faith in Société Générale's future," he said.