Lex: Jérôme Kerviel

Jérôme Kerviel said that at Société Générale, he was given the same consideration as a cheap prostitute, but on the final day of his trial, he has the attention of the world. Although sympathy has waned for the trader who lost €4.9bn at the French bank, some still see him as a victim rather than the “terrorist” claimed by the bank’s former chairman. This was not helped by the bank’s odd request that Mr Kerviel – whose annual salary is now about €30,000 – repay the entire sum lost. Luke Templeman analyses the Luke Templeman analyses the predicament of SocGen's rogue trader.