SocGen chief throws in towel

Societe Generale Chairman Daniel Bouton said yesterday that he will resign from the French bank, saying repeated attacks on him were a threat to the bank's health.

In a statement, Bouton said "Like any manager, I have certainly made mistakes" during his leadership of France's second largest bank, "but the strategy adopted by Societe Generale has made it one of the finest banks in the euro zone".

"The repeated attacks against me personally in France for the past 15 months affect me, but most of all, they risk harming the bank and its 163,000 employees," Bouton added.