Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader blamed by France’s second biggest bank for a record €4.9bn loss a year ago, said he hit the “jackpot” on July 7, 2005 – the day of terror strikes in London.

Mr Kerviel told Le Parisien newspaper he had bet on a fall in the share price of Allianz, the insurer, days before the bombings, which killed 52 people. When news of the attacks emerged, shares in insurance companies fell.