USD7 Billion Trading Fraud at Societe Generale 2289



  • Shares suspended and an USD8 billion rights issue to cover this and sub-prime losses.
    business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3242996.ece



  • Denis - Thanks for kindly sharing this and below is a copy of my blog post
    French Bank SocGen suffers USD7.1 Billion loss from inside fraud
    If confirmed, this represents the greatest fraud scandal by a single individual of all time. The key issues were too much trust and the lack of checks and balances . While most folks are ethical and trustworthy, companies always need compensating controls that ’ trust but verify ’ that all is going well.
    Most likely large financial institutions will be looking at their controls even more closely after this scandal. This includes improving classical audit controls like: separations of duties, checks-and-balances, and autonomy levels. These controls are also beneficial to prevent accidental erros as well.
    French bank blames trader for USD7 billion fraud
    Societe Generale to seek new capital; swindle is one of history’s biggest
    please copy link to browser
    http-and-#58;//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22818054/
    PARIS - French bank Societe Generale said Thursday it has uncovered a USD7.14 billion fraud one of history’s biggest by a single futures trader who orchestrated a series of bogus transactions. The fraud destabilized a major bank already exposed to the subprime crisis. France’s second largest bank by market value said it must seek 5.5 billion euros (USD8.02 billion) in new capital, and the chief executive offered to resign.
    The trader at SocGen was responsible for basic futures hedging on European equity market indices, the company said, making bets on how the markets would perform at a future date. Futures trading began with selling commodities like sugar or oil to be delivered at a specified date. The practice has expanded enormously in recent years to include extremely complex financial instruments, but the company statement said the trader was involved in the more basic forms of hedging.
    If confirmed, the fraud would far outstrip the Nick Leeson trading scandal in 1995 that bankrupted British bank Barings. Barings collapsed after Leeson, the bank’s Singapore general manager of futures trading, lost 860 million pounds then worth USD1.38 billion on Asian futures markets, wiping out the bank’s cash reserves. The company had been in business for more than 230 years.



  • This one looks like it is going to run and run. The official story does not stack up. It will be an interesting test case for years to come.



  • It is believe that it was the biggest sinking of the world. Societe Generale in Paris trading to 75.81 3.27 , or 4.1 percent, fell 23 percent this year to bring down the bank worth 35300000000. Societe Generale since the beginning of the 1990s at least five Financial firms for inclusion in a list of damage from unauthorized trades Kidder Peabody, Barings, including suffering, and Allied Irish Banks Plc.Societe Generale, founded in 1864 , 77 countries and has 120,000 employees in 22 million retail banking customers, according to its Web site for information. The company said it plans to raise capital by selling shares in a rights offer underwritten by JPMorgan Chase and Co. and Morgan Stanley’s. After the bank’s transactions 1 ratio, a measure of solvency Tier, from 6.7 percent late in 2007 will increase about 8 percent.


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