Even before the world plunged into financial crisis, risk management was high on the "worry list" of trading houses: 2008 has been marked by a string of trading incidents that exposed big holes in risk practices.

In January, Société Générale revealed that unauthorised dealing by Jérôme Kerviel, a futures trader in Paris, had resulted in losses of €4.9bn for the French bank, the biggest rogue trading scandal in history.