Sorry, I’ve just lost £3.7 billion

Posted on

The BBC reports that:

French bank Societe Generale says it has uncovered "massive" fraud by a Paris-based trader which resulted in a loss of 4.9bn euros ($7.1bn; £3.7bn).

This is four times the Barings loss that brought that bank down. Societe General will have to raise capital to make good the loss, which it claims was the work of one person over a period of time.

As one commentator said:

I am sorry but I have a hard time buying the fact that a trader was able to set up a 'secret trade' of 4.9 billion without anybody finding out

Me too.

And people wonder why we campaign for more corporate transparency.


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