SocGen’s quarterly profit drops

French bank Societe Generale has reported an almost 84 percent drop in third-quarter net profit, but said it is strong enough to withstand the global financial crisis.

Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea pointed out that the bank had not used new accounting rules, which could have helped it minimise its markdowns.

As it was, writeoffs were around 1.4 billion euros between July and September.

Net income fell to 183 million euros, down 83.7 percent compared with the third quarter last year.

In January, Societe Generale suffered the world’s worst rogue trading scandal.

It says Jerome Kerviel, a junior trader at the bank, cost it 4.9 billion euros of losses through unauthorised trades.

Societe Generale shares rose. They have fallen around 55 percent since the start of the year, about the same as the rest of the industry.

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