‘Rogue’ trader told to repay R15m

FRENCH “rogue trader” Jerome Kerviel was ordered on Friday to pay à1-million (R15.29-million) to his former employer Société Générale, which lost à4.9-billion through his disastrous risk-taking.

The appeals court in Versailles said Kerviel, 39, was “partially responsible for the loss”, which brought the French bank to the brink of bankruptcy in 2008.

The court cited “deficiencies” in the bank’s safeguards and therefore limited Société Générale’s right to compensation.

Kerviel, who has called for a retrial, said: “I owe nothing to Société Générale.”

In total, Kerviel — who was sentenced to five years for breach of trust, forgery and entering false data for the trades — spent only 150 days in prison.

He insists that his bosses turned a blind eye as long as the profits kept rolling in.

In a civil case, Kerviel was first ordered to pay for the entirety of the enormous losses but that was quashed on appeal, with judges ruling that the bank’s internal oversight mechanisms had failed.

Friday’s verdict follows hearings at the Versailles appeal court in June in which lawyers for the bank made a fresh attempt to claw back the cash.

In June, a Paris labour tribunal ordered Société Générale to pay Kerviel à450 000 in damages, saying he had been fired “without genuine or serious cause”. The bank has appealed.

Kerviel, who at one point staked à50-billion of the bank’s money, is alleged to have made Société Générale à1.9-billion before the financial crisis accelerated his losses. — AFP