Since the SocGen fraud is likely to a big story heading into the weekend and over the next week, here are some links/news items related to it.

First, a BBC news story discussing the state of the markets this past week and how it’s unlikely that that the SocGen fraud caused the global market collapse this past Monday, made a bad situation worse perhaps, but not a root cause. If you ask me, people trying to blame market performance on SocGen are looking for a convenient scapegoat instead of focusing on the world’s underlying economic issues. Not to mention the poor performance of the world’s major market indices so far this year.

BBC news provides an update on the SocGen trader fraud including the identity of the alleged rogue. The situation appears poised to end SocGen’s run as an independent entity, not to mention open them up for Government scrutiny over the delay in informing the French Govt. of the fraud.

Here is another article looking into the background of the “French Rogue Trader”; apparently he didn’t even make any money from the scheme and is cooperating with authorities. Still, people are steadily trying to track him down and find out more about him. The thing that gets me is that he appears to be a low level trader who only earned €100,000.00 a year, so how in the world was he in a position to cause this much damage?!

(From the BBC News) “One of Mr Kerviel's university tutors says he was not an outstanding student.

"If he was a genius, we didn't spot it," Dominique Chabert told AFP news agency…

… But he certainly shocked executives at Societe Generale, where he has worked since 2000, with the complexity and scale of his recent, now infamous, trades.

Societe Generale's Chief Executive Daniel Bouton called the fraud "extraordinarily sophisticated".

At the bank Mr Kerviel was not seen as a high flyer. He was essentially a junior employee working in what was seen as a low-risk, low-profit area of futures trading.”

Sources:

BBC News: “On the trail of trader Kerviel” – January 25, 2008