Lessons from the Chefs of French Banking

French Bank Links Lone Futures Trader To $7 Billion Fraud

By Molly Moore Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, January 25, 2008; A01

PARIS, Jan. 24 -- For five years, Jérôme Kerviel toiled in the back offices of Societe Generale, learning the intricacies of the six-layer security system that France's second-largest bank used to protect its money, investors and customers from fraud, according to bank officials here.

Kerviel then made an unusual career move. He was promoted to trader -- becoming one of the very employees the security systems are designed to oversee and keep honest.

Over the next several months, his chagrined employer alleged Thursday, Kerviel used his inside knowledge of the security system and his brazenness as a futures trader to pull off one of the largest banking frauds in history, ringing up losses of more than $7 billion for Societe Generale.

. . . Societe Generale had other bad news on Thursday for stockholders: It had suffered nearly $3 billion in losses from inves…