When the fraud at Societe Generale burst into view several months ago, I analyzed what went wrong and why in “Why It’s So Shocking Societe Generale Was Shocked” (in the March 2008 edition). Well, now we see that CEO Daniel Bouton is stepping down, which comes as no surprise. He was at the helm when the SocGen ship hit an iceberg that clearly should have been seen and avoided. Management knew the company was in dangerous waters (regulators and others apprised them that damage appeared to have already been done), but did nothing to investigate and steer clear of disaster.
