Last Thursday, Socié té Gé né rale held a press conference to announce that its traders had violated the rules, resulting in huge losses. A few hours later, Kewell's name quickly became popular and jumped to 26th place in Google's search vocabulary ranking. People are curious, who is this 3 1 year-old boy who built a "pyramid on quicksand" in the financial market through ultra vires operation? Keviel 1977 was born in Ponlabe, a coastal town in Brittany, western France. His father died two years ago. Before his death, he was the instructor of a gold workshop in a vocational school, and his mother ran a hair salon.
Querville studied at Masl School of Business Administration in Lyon. After studying in Nantes, he obtained a master's degree in financial market operation management from the University of Lyon in 2000. Like many students, he started as an intern, first as a paid intern at BNP Paribas, and then joined Industrial Bank.
Querville didn't go to a famous university. "People who want to get ahead or dominate the market won't come here," said Busson, director of the Department of Economics and Financial Engineering at the University of Lyon. There is nothing to show off here. "
Cowell loves judo and sailing. According to his judo teacher, O 'Hante, he taught Kerviel for more than six years. Later, Kewell taught children to learn judo, but only got a judo green belt because of a knee injury. Later, he gave up the sport.
In the first five years of Industrial Bank, Keviel worked as a handyman in the investment department of the bank and became familiar with the risk control process in the background. Until 2005, Keviel was promoted to be a trader, responsible for European stock index futures trading-the derivatives trading that Societe Generale is best at, and also the most risky variety. After five years of "concentrating on sharpening the knife", he immediately became familiar with trading-although it was no exception.
In the eyes of colleagues, Keviel is quiet and low-key. "He has never had any problems before." "He is not very showy, but he is very handsome, a bit like Tom Cruise, and he listens to his boss." It was not until he was exposed that his colleagues around him felt incredible. A junior trader who worked with him said, "When I saw his photo, I thought: Impossible, it can't be him."
Colleagues commented that Keviel was "smart, but not a computer genius". He only wrote on his resume that he had mastered the basic computer operation. However, Nouaille, the governor of the French central bank, thinks that Keviel has passed the five security checks of the bank and obtained the right to use huge amounts of money, so he is a computer genius.
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According to Societe Generale, Keviel began to engage in illegal transactions in the first half of 2007 and was not discovered until the evening of 18 this month. Afterwards, the management fired him and other senior executives, and Keviel never appeared in the public eye again.
Confusingly, it seems that Kewell can't bring him any personal benefits by engaging in such risky transactions. One executive said: "We don't understand why he made these transactions. We have no reason to believe that he profited from it. "
It seems that Querville, who got into big trouble, didn't do it for wealth. Although his residence is in Noyes noble residential area on the outskirts of Paris, his house is not luxurious. Thomas, a 79-year-old resident living on the second floor of the apartment, said Kerviel lived in a single-room suite converted from a servant room on the third floor of the top floor. She said he was young and handsome, but he didn't like to talk. Thomas's daughter Isabel said that she saw him about once a week. "He didn't speak, and as soon as he went up the stairs, he crossed the fourth level in one breath." They all said he would open the door for them, but he didn't laugh.
Cowell's relatives and friends all think that he is an "honest boy". Kerviel's mother arrived in Paris after her son's accident. She said, "He didn't swallow a penny, I'm sure."
Industrial Bank seems to trust Keviel, thinking that he didn't plan it. Mustel, president of Industrial Enterprise and Investment Department, said: "When we talked with him on Saturday and Sunday, he thought he had found the trick and could make money in the market."
Keviel's annual salary, including bonus, is less than 654.38 million euros. After meeting with bank representatives, the representative of the French Federation of Trade Unions said that Keviel may hope to gain the appreciation of his boss by earning huge profits, so as to get more bonuses. According to them, in the past year, Kerviel's life has been hit repeatedly. His father died and his girlfriend broke up with him. "Their family ties are close, and Kewell is very sad about his father's death, which may be one of the reasons why he made a big mistake."
Others questioned the case itself. They believe that the bank may have covered up the performance of serious losses due to the subprime mortgage crisis and used Keweier as a cover. The French newspaper le figaro quoted industry experts as saying that Keviel may become a "scapegoat", but the head of Industrial Bank denied that the bank transferred other transaction losses to this case.
The British "Daily Mail" quoted internal police sources as saying that Keviel was considering "listing relevant names". According to the investigation, before the scandal was exposed, Keviel made several suspicious calls to traders in other investment banks. "As more and more cases are exposed, the police may conduct surprise inspections. By then, many bankers in Paris may lose sleep. "
The "devil trader" saved the global economy?
This huge loss of Societe Generale made Keviel famous overnight, and his name quickly became the latest member of the "financial disaster" together with Lissen and "Mr. Copper" Hamanaka. Some media called him a "devil trader". In order to adapt to the focus of public opinion, French M6 TV station specially adjusted the program list and showed the Hollywood movie "Rogue Trader" last Sunday night.
People not only blame Keviel, but also point the finger at his Industrial Bank. In this regard, Daniel Burton, the chairman of Industrial Bank, retorted in an interview that the scandal did not happen because of the strategic mistakes of the bank management, and the situation of the whole bank was not affected.
This scandal not only shocked the business community, but also shocked the French political arena. French Prime Minister francois fillon has ordered the Ministry of Finance to report the losses of Societe Generale within one week. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is visiting abroad, also called for financial system reform on1October 26th.
However, just as the young man was on trial, some economists stood up and shouted: Keviel may have inadvertently become a hero to save the world economy!
Some senior economists in the United States have analyzed that Societe Generale began to liquidate its positions after discovering the illegal transactions of Keviel, which triggered market speculation that the bank's sale of these positions at low prices may be the reason for the sharp decline in global stock markets; Subsequently, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 75 basis points, the largest single rate cut in 23 years, which may be a "turning point" to avoid the world economic recession.
Edward Yadney, former chief economic analyst of Deutsche Bank Securities, said: "The recession has almost passed. Thanks to Jerome Kerviel's action in Paris and the positive response of the Washington Federal Reserve, I have never had such strong economic support in my memory, which prevented the signs of recession from becoming a reality. "