Groupe Caisse d'Épargne, a French savings bank, said today that it had sustained a 600 million euro loss ($800 million) due to unauthorized equity derivatives trading.
The bank said that the loss was “exclusively related” to independent actions taken by a proprietary trading team at Caisse Nationale des Caisses d'Épargne, the Paris bank’s holding company.
The illicit activity was discovered internally.
The bank said it has a capital base of more than 20 billion euros ($26 billion) and the loss shouldn’t affect customers.
Following the announcement, Christine Lagarde, France’s minister of finance, called for an audit of every banking institution in the country.
The incident recalls previous episodes involving rogue traders in Europe, most recently in Russia and also at rival French bank Société Générale (InvestmentNews, Feb. 21).
CNCE is discussing a merger with Groupe Banque Populaire of Paris to form the second-largest banking group in France.
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