Société Générale moved to draw a line under the rogue trader scandal which cost the bank almost €5 billion (£3.2 billion) last night when it announced that Daniel Bouton, its figurehead, would be stripped of his operational role.

Although Mr Bouton will stay on as chairman, he will lose the chief executive function, which is to be filled by Frédéric Oudéa under a reshuffle in May.

Mr Oudéa, 44, who was thrust to the forefront last month when he was promoted from chief financial officer to deputy chief executive, now has the task of leading the French bank out of the crisis, which was sparked by the biggest rogue trader scandal in history.

The moves come less than four months after SocGen announced that it had discovered the unauthorised deals of Jérôme Kerviel, a junior trader, which were unwound at a loss of €4.9 billion.

Rogue traders' profit boosted SocGen bonuses

Jerome Kerviel's lawyer claims executives at the French bank benefited from the successful investments of the rogue trader

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Multimedia

• Full coverage of the SocGen scandal

• Blog: Charles Bremner on SocGen

• Video: Patrick Hosking on the impact of fraud

BACKGROUND

• Who Knew What and When?

• SocGen director probed over €100m share sale

• Ex-SocGen risk auditor calls systems a sham

Related Links

• SocGen boss retracts offer to quit

• Jerome Kerviel to sue SocGen over sacking

• SocGen trader Kerviel in court plea

The scandal sparked a power struggle between Mr Bouton, 58, who appeared determined to hang on to his job after two initial resignation offers were rejected by the board, and French political leaders.

President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the chairman’s departure amid widespread claims that lax procedures had enabled Mr Kerviel to go undetected.

A report into the scandal commissioned by SocGen found that managers had failed to act despite 76 alerts over Mr Kerviel’s trades in the 18 months leading up to the scandal.

The announcement last night looked like a compromise that would enable Mr Bouton to save face while being pushed gently towards the exit door. After 15 years at the helm, the man nicknamed “two brains” for his formidable intelligence will now be taking a back seat.

He can claim credit for turning SocGen into a leading player on the international financial stage and also for leading it through the turbulent weeks that followed the revelation of Mr Kerviel’s activities.

Mr Bouton’s supporters argue that he saw out the worst of the storm when SocGen raised €5.5 billion through a rights issue and then managed to beat off BNP Paribas, its Gallic rival, which was considering a takeover battle.

However, the failure to stop Mr Kerviel earlier has tarnished Mr Bouton’s reputation and ultimately cost him the post of chief executive.

Jean-Pierre Mustier, the head of SocGen’s corporate and investment banking division, is another high powered victim of the scandal.

Once tipped as a future chief executive, he has been blamed for the failings which enabled the rogue trader to prosper, and was overtaken by Mr Oudéa in the race for Mr Bouton’s succession. In a statement last night. SocGen said that Mr Oudéa wanted to retain Philippe Citerne and Didier Alix as deputy chief executives.

It added that Mr Citerne had decided not to ask for a renewal of his board mandate at a shareholder meeting on May 27.

The statement said that the board would meet on May 12 to approve first-quarter earnings, which would reflect the “sustained confidence of our clients, the group’s resilience and once again the benefits derived from a balanced portfolio of activities in a difficult environment”.

Mr Kerviel has been placed under formal investigation on suspicion of breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers. He denies the allegations.

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