The boss of Société Générale rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel said today that he did not have the proper experience to suspect a possible fraud.

Eric Cordelle was Kerviel’s direct supervisor between April 1, 2007 and January 2008. “I think an experienced desk chief could probably have spotted Jerome’s frauds. I am a financial engineer, I am not a trader,” Cordelle told French daily Le Figaro.

"I had management experience, not trading experience, I had no road map, no training, no information,”Cordelle said.

Cordelle said he had received a letter terminating his services last month, after more than 12 years at SocGen. In January, the French bank unveiled €4.9 billion ($7.64 billion) in trading losses, which it blamed on unauthorised trading bets by Kerviel.

Kerviel was freed from prison in March after an appeal against his detention but remains under formal investigation for breach of trust, computer abuse and falsification. He has said the bank must have been aware of his trading activities.

SocGen has published two internal reports on its own investigations into how Kerviel managed to bypass risk controls to build up a trading position worth €49 billion. Its second report blamed weak supervision and poor control systems.

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