Bank offers to cut Kerviel damages
Société Générale says it is a 'responsible bank' and there was no question of making rogue trader pay back €4.9bn
SOCIETE Générale bank has said it is willing to negotiate a reduced damages bill with rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel after a public outcry over the bank's €4.9bn claim.
Kerviel was jailed on Monday for five years and ordered to repay all the money he lost the bank in a series of unauthorised deals in January 2008.
Politicians and the press condemned the €4.9bn damages bill, which would have taken him at least 177,000 years to repay on his current salary.
The UMP president in the Senate, Gérard Longuet, said the amount was "a bit ridiculous".
National Assembly president Bernard Accoyer said: "This whole affair is completely mad and the figures continue to be so."
Société Générale said last night that there had never been "any question of demanding such a sum of money from one man".
Communications director Caroline Guillaumin told France Info that the bank was "open to finding a solution which is in the interests of our shareholders and staff, while taking into account Jérôme Kerviel's situation".
She added: "Is it our intention to make Kerviel pay for 177,000 years? The answer is no. We are a responsible bank."
Ms Guillaumin suggested that the bank and Kerviel's lawyer would find a settlement - but there was no question of writing off the debt completely.
However she said that no deal would be reached until after Kerviel's appeal against the conviction was heard.
Kerviel told Europe 1 that he was being made to pay "on behalf of everyone in this affair".
His lawyer, Olivier Metzner, said his client would not negotiate with the bank and expressed disbelief that Société Générale had asked for such a high sum in the first place.
"We want Société Générale to recognise that Kerviel worked uniquely for their gain," he said. "We do not believe we owe them any money."
Kerviel was found guilty of abuse of trust, forgery and illegally modifying bank computer databases.
The court ruled that he "deliberately acted beyond his mandate" by taking positions that exposed the bank to excessive risk and forging documents to cover up his work.
The judge said Société Générale was not aware of Kerviel's fraudulent activity.
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