Société Générale shares rise despite massive fraud losses

 

Société Générale shares rose 2.95 per cent to €78.05 ($114.85) in early trade on Friday, a day after the French banking giant revealed it was the victim of a €4.9-billion ($7.15-billion) fraud.

The stock was down 4.14 per cent at the close on Thursday, when the bank said it had also suffered a €2-billion ($2.94 billion) loss stemming from the crisis in the US subprime mortgage market.

Société Générale said a single trader carried out the massive fraud – one of the biggest scams in financial history.

It said the losses cut its 2007 profit to €600-800 million ($882.9 million-$1.17 billion) from €5.2 billion ($7.65 billion) in 2006 and that it needed a €5.5 billion ($8.1 billion) capital increase to restore its balance sheet. (AFP)