raytoei (90.25)

"I was held in lower regard than the others because of my educational and professional background."

February 01, 2008 – Comments (3)

"I was held in lower regard than the others because of my educational and professional background."
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"Trading might not be rocket science, but Société Générale has a tradition of drawing its star traders from France's most elite schools. Many have doctorates in disciplines such as astrophysics or nuclear science. They are known as "quants" for the complex "quantitative" mathematical trading formulas they develop. They pull down the biggest paychecks.
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"It hasn't always been this way. Société Générale's current corporate culture is a byproduct of the bank's transformation in the late 1980s from a conventional retail bank to a major player on the global financial stage, according to Michel Marchet, a representative of one of the bank's labor unions and 40-year employee. When he started, Mr. Marchet recalls, even employees without college degrees could build successful careers.
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The high-pressure atmosphere has taken its share of victims. In June, a trader in his 30s who worked on the same floor as Mr. Kerviel jumped to his death from a footbridge near Société Générale's towering headquarters in the La Défense suburb of Paris. Moments before his death, Mr. Marchet says, a supervisor had interrogated the trader for losing about €9 million in unauthorized trades. "He took his bag, left Société Générale and jumped off a bridge," Mr. Marchet says.
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That death came in the wake of two other suicides in recent years. In 2005, a trader jumped to his death from a ninth-floor window at the bank's headquarters, Mr. Marchet said. A year later, a back-office employee jumped in front of a train commuting between La Défense and the center of Paris."

End Quote

What's even more incredible, Jérôme Kerviel pulled in 1.6bn euros profit for the bank (1/3 of the bank's 2006 profit). And he was underappreciated. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120168164214928349.html  

raytoei