[ISN] Societe Generale overhauls global IT

http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2220472/soci-g-n-rale-overhauls-global

By Angelica Mari
Computing
02 July 2008

Societe Generale is setting up new global functions for its technology 
and back office as part of a major business overhaul.

The bank's Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) division and the 
new IT units will work together to improve processing and optimise 
processes and will involve heads of business divisions to speed up 
development.

The new organisation is intended to expand the bank's service portfolio 
and streamline systems across the different countries in which it 
operates. The IT plan is part of a wider overhaul, which is said to be a 
response to expansion via organic growth, acquisitions and new mandates.

Last month, the head of Societe Generale (SocGen) faced pressure to 
resign after admitting in an interview that there were faults in the 
bank's internal control systems after rogue trader Jerome Kerviel lost 
4.9bn in bad trades.

"The controls were carried out in accordance with the rules for each 
area concerned. But a horizontal method for assessing the risk of fraud, 
[and] a pooling of the information, was missing," chairman Daniel Bouton 
told French web site Mediapart.

"It was the lack of this method that allowed Kerviel to play on the 
different deficiencies, which his experience in the back office had 
enabled him to see," he said.

Before joining SocGen's trading team, Kerviel worked in the bank's back 
office, where he allegedly had access to processes linked to security 
checks and transaction processing.


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