Societe Generale's 4Q dives amid scandal

France’s second-largest bank reported record fourth-quarter losses amid a scandal focusing on an alleged rogue trader. Societe Generale posted a $4.93 billion loss compared to a $1.7 billion profit in the year-ago period. Three Societe Generale independent board members issued a report today detailing how the bank failed to act on numerous warnings it received during the last two years regarding Jerome Kerviel’s trades, published reports said. The bank has blamed Mr. Kerviel’s unauthorized trades were for the record losses. He was arrested this month by French police for allegedly costing the Paris-based bank over $7 billion from fictitious trades and creating false documents to back up directional positions InvestmentNews, Jan. 28). Gross operating income for the fourth quarter dipped 78% to $686 million from the $3.1 billion reported in the year-ago period. For the year 2007, Societe Generale’s net income fell 82% to $1.4 billion compared to $7.7 billion in 2006.