Jérôme Kerviel, the former Société Générale employee accused of fake transactions costing the French bank billions of euros, on Tuesday broke his silence to argue that he had got “a bit carried away” trading in vast sums of money.

In his first public comments since SocGen disclosed the scandal, Mr Kerviel told Agence France Presse he had not been driven by “personal ambition” but had simply wanted to make money for the bank.