A sparkle briefly returns to Daniel Bouton's piercing blue eyes when the Société Générale chairman is asked why he declined to meet Jérôme Kerviel, the man accused of creating a record €4.9bn ($7.1bn) trading loss for the French bank.

"Why would I have had the idea of meeting him? I'm not an auditor, I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a doctor," Mr Bouton tells the Financial Times, glaring professorially through his rimless glasses. "Do you consider it is the role of the executive to meet any fraudster that is discovered in the company?