French bank reveals scale of alleged fraud

The French bank Societe Generale has revealed that the alleged fraud by one of its staff involved trading worth 50 billion euros. The bank is now promising to strengthen its internal risk control systems.

31-year-old trader Jerome Kerviel is in police custody being questioned over the affair, which is known to have cost the bank almost five billion euros. Described as the biggest suspected case of banking fraud in history, questions have been raised about control procedures at Societe Generale.

The bank began to unwind the traders bets on what it calls an “unfavourable” stock market after discovering the alleged fraud on January 18.

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