PARIS (AFP) — French bank Societe Generale, hit by a massive rogue trading scandal four months ago, said Thursday that Daniel Bouton would be replaced as chief executive but would retain his position as chairman.
A bank statement said the functions of chief executive officer and chairman would be dissociated as of May 12, with Frederic Oudea becoming the new CEO.
It said that "the board of directors, on Daniel Bouton's proposal, has decided to proceed with the dissociation of the functions of chairman and chief executive officer ... during its meeting May 12."
Bouton, who currently holds both positions, on two occasions offered to resign from the board following revelations in January that the bank had suffered a loss of 4.9 billion euros (7.7 billion euros) in unauthorised deals it blamed on a 31-year-old trader, Jerome Kerviel.
Kerviel has maintained he acted alone but suggested his bosses knew he was dealing with huge sums of money and turned a blind eye as long as he was making a profit.
An internal bank inquiry found that Kerviel's unauthorised trading had not been detected because of his sophisticated techniques, but it also pointed the finger at internal audit and risk control failures.
Kerviel turned himself in to police on January 26, two days after the bank revealed the losses, and on January 28 was charged with breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers.
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