Societe Generale CEOs keep jobs

The board of troubled French banking giant Societe Generale said Wednesday that chairman and chief executive Daniel Bouton will stay on despite massive trading losses of more than $7.2 billion.

The board said it had rejected Bouton's resignation, as well as that of co-chief executive Phillipe Citerne, his second-in-command.

The announcement came at the end of a special board meeting at Societe Generale's headquarters in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine to discuss the losses, which Bouton has attributed to fraud by one of the bank's traders.

Jerome Kerviel, who traded European index futures, was charged Tuesday for his role in the $7.2 billion loss, though he has not been charged with fraud.

Wednesday was the second time this week that Bouton offered his resignation -- and the second time the board rejected it.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/30/french.bank/index.html