Jérôme Kerviel, the trader accused of fake transactions costing Société Générale billions of euros, yesterday broke his silence to insist he would not be used as a "scapegoat".
In his first public comments in nearly two weeks, Mr Kerviel told Agence France Presse he had been "singled out" by the bank.
"I am taking my share of responsibility, but I will not be the scapegoat for Société Générale."
Insisting he was "neither suicidal nor depressed", he said: "I never had any personal ambition in this affair. The aim was to earn money for the bank."
"You lose your sense of the sums involved when you are in this kind of work. It's disembodied. You get a bit carried away."
Meanwhile, SocGen's board is expected to meet this evening to discuss the conditions for its €5.5 billion ($8 billion) rescue fundraising, which could be launched as soon as Friday or next week - depending on market volatility. A formal launch early next week would allow for a two-week marketing period that would close just after SocGen unveils its annual results on February 21st.
SocGen has lined up Merrill Lynch to advise on its defence against any potential approach. Bringing Merrill onside points to possible nervousness about SocGen's vulnerability, given the US bank's experience with the successful consortium bid to break up ABN Amro, the Dutch lender.
SocGen appears to be facing the threat of class action law suits in the US. It emerged yesterday that the Washington office of the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation that goes beyond controversial share sales by a director on the day the rogue trading was discovered. -(Financial Times service)
