Société Générale on Friday appointed Didier Valet as its chief financial officer, filling the gap in the French bank’s senior ranks created when Frédéric Oudéa was promoted to be chief executive last month.

Mr Valet, a former banking analyst and previous head of SocGen’s investor relations department, will play a pivotal role in rebuilding the bank’s credibility with investors and regulators following the rogue trading scandal involving Jérôme Kerviel.

His appointment comes just a few weeks after Daniel Bouton, previously the bank’s chairman and chief executive, gave up his executive responsibilities in the wake of the trading scandal, which forced the bank to raise €5.5bn ($8.5bn) from investors to fill the hole in its balance sheet.

He was replaced as chief executive by Mr Oudéa, who had impressed investors with his handling of the trading scandal and the subsequent rights issue.

Mr Valet, 40, started his career in 1996 at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, the investment bank, where he worked as an analyst covering banks in France and the Benelux. In 2000 he moved to SocGen as head of its banking research team, before moving to become the bank’s head of investor relations in 2003.

For the past year, he has been head of Strategic Performance Management in the bank’s Finance and Development Division, where his responsibilities included monitoring costs and setting standards for financial controls.

His appointment comes as speculation about SocGen’s future has receded after BNP Paribas, its main French rival, said it was not interested in mounting a takeover bid. Nevertheless, many analysts believe SocGen will struggle to regain its star status on the stock market, which was largely fuelled by the success in recent years of its investment banking division.

Mr Valet is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique, the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration, and France’s society of financial analysts.