The chairman and chief executive of Caisse d’Epargne, one of France’s most trusted savings banks, on Sunday night resigned after a lengthy board meeting, called to assess the consequences of the €600m unauthorised trading loss revealed last week.

Charles Milhaud, who in nine years at the helm of Caisse d’Epargne had sought to transform the collection of local mutual savings institutions into a universal bank to challenge bigger rivals, on Sunday night accepted responsibility for the loss and the 65-year-old bank boss said he would ask for no compensation.