Jérôme Kerviel hero or zero?
Jérôme Kerviel is going to prison for three to five years (two years are suspended). He also owes SocGen €4.9bn, initially repayable at a legal interest rate of 0.65% per annum, an increase of €87k a day.
The courts clearly think Kerviel was unequivocally in the wrong.
"Kerviel knowingly went beyond his remit as a trader," the judge said finding him guilty of computer abuse and forgery.
However, Kerviel has still defendants, and they are not restricted to his lawyer.
Banking blogger Alea and others point out that Kerviel's enormous loss was almost entirely due to SocGen's decision to liquidate his trades in a hurry between January 21st and January 23rd 2008.
Until that point, Kerviel was in the black. And this chart of his P&L proves it.
Kerviel's defenders allege that his trades were unwound by an inexperienced trader who compounded the problem. Kerviel himself had argued that the bank had turned a blind eye to his profitable trading activities and tacitly supported him - until it panicked.
Do you have any sympathy for Kerviel? Should he really be lumbered with a gargantuan fine when the loss wasn't totally of his own doing? Comment below. Please.
