Ten years after the affair Kerviel : “It must end the culture of secrecy “

Forum. On January 24, 2008, the financial world learned with amazement that the Company is to achieve a loss of 5 billion euros to the result of speculative positions from one of its traders, Jérôme Kerviel. It is the biggest loss of trading ever recorded. Ten years after, the case is still in the memories, because the twists and turns have been many.

In 2010, Kerviel was sentenced in the first instance to five years in prison and repayment of the loss of 5 billion euros to Société générale, which, in spite of the serious shortcomings of its system of internal control, is released. But, in 2014, the Court of cassation reverses the damages, arguing that the errors committed by the bank have contributed to the fraud.

In 2016, the prud’hommes condemn the Society in general to pay 450 000 euro to Jerome Kerviel for dismissal ” without cause real or serious “, while the Versailles court of appeal reduces damages of 1 million euros. At the same time, Society in general, is declared to be faulty. The tax authority has accordingly initiated a process of tax adjustment to recoup the $ 2.2 billion of tax deductions of which the bank has benefited from the losses.

The case of Société générale, a few months after the beginning of the crisis of credits subprime, marked the beginning of a series of events that have cast a huge pall over the financial sector : the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brother scam of Bernard Madoff, the manipulation of indices interbank scandals repeatedly linked to tax havens, etc., beyond the legal debate on the sharing of responsibilities, which is far from being closed, one can legitimately ask what has changed in ten years.

Losses from trading in excess of $ 100 million

Certainly, the internal control procedures of the banks have been strengthened. So far, half a dozen losses…

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