So it’s all down to one man, is it? This fellow. Jérôme Kerviel.

All his fault that the world’s economic system can be brought to the point of collapse.

He’s a rogue trader, you see, but not just any old rogue. Oh no. Jérôme Kerviel is a very special rogue indeed. The kind of rogue who didn’t make a single penny for himself out of the whole thing.

Isn’t that good? Isn’t that amazing? This fellow traded and traded and traded, and eventually ended up losing his bank €5 billion or so, but he did it all on his own, and nobody noticed that he was committing five thousand million euros of the bank’s money. Isn’t that amazing? And he stood to make nothing out of it for himself. He risked jail even though there was no personal benefit in it.

What kind of a fraud is that, now? A pretty crappy one in my opinion.

I’ll tell you this: if I had a chance to defraud France’s second largest bank of millions, I’d make damn sure there was something in it for me. Jesus I wish I had a job where I could run up debts of five billion euros before anyone asked what the hell was going on. I wouldn’t be greedy. I’d run up fifty million in debts — a mere gnat-bite compared to €5 billion — and be gone before anyone stirred in their sleep. They’d never hear from me again and I’d be no trouble to anyone.

But let’s go back to Jérôme Kerviel. Here’s a youngish guy who lives a fairly modest life, in a small apartment. Not ostentatious. Not a big spender.

Jérôme is a guy who stood to make absolutely nothing out of all these deals, unlike this fellow: Daniel Bouton.

Q’est-ce que c’est Daniel Bouton?

Oh, Danny is the chairman and chief executive of SocGen, and he’s pissed off because Jérôme somehow managed to bet a total of €50 billion on the bank’s behalf. That’s right: fifty billion euros. More than the bank’s entire worth, and not just any old bank either, but the second largest bank in France.

Serious.

Anyway, Danny can’t seem to figure out how all of this happened, and of course he wants this dreadful rogue trader prosecuted and flung into jail, but hold on a minute. Sorry. Just back up a little there, Danny-boy.

Is Dan saying that he had no systems in place to notice that a junior employee was about to sell the entire bank to a pawnbroker?

Mais oui!

And is Dan also agreeing that Kerviel wasn’t actually going to make a penny out of it for himself?

Oh, he is, is he?

Right.

So let’s put it together then. You have a huge bank, much like all other huge banks. And this bank has loads of traders like Jérôme Kerviel. And all these traders are in a position to bet fortunes on behalf of the bank. And the bank has taken no steps to prevent them getting out of hand. And if they succeed, the bank will make godzillions of money out of their activities?

C’est vrai?

Mais, certement!

And if they fail?

Well in that case, Danny calls them criminals and wants them in jail.

Ah! Gotcha.

See, that’s how you get to be chairman and CEO of France’s second-largest bank.

Zut, alors!

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Stock Market Crash