In France, the Heads No Longer Roll

Long but interesting article on the French business "royalty" and their 100 Club. I had never heard of the 100 Club but its existence and exclusivity are no surprise. When many world leaders throughout history have been associated with secret societies like the Freemasons, it comes as no surprise that in France, where Freemasonry isn't as prevalent, there is a society even more elite. 100 members and 100 members only. Admittance for the elite at the death of a previous member. These men are the leaders of France and share a cameraderie and network that extends beyond their political and business connections. Yet, can they really claim that their business decisions are not in part based on this cameraderie?

Members of the group, and other French business elite claim that the decision to leave the President of the French bank La Societe Generale has nothing to do with his membership in this group or his status as one of the French business royalty. Instead they claim it is the board's decision based on business. I must say that some of their arguments are plausible -- when the bank is in such a state of turmoil it probably isn't the best idea to change its leadership. But at the same time, if such a gross oversight had occurred in the US, the president would have been on the street in a heartbeat. So why protect this man and others like him? What was really going on in that bank, and is our little French trader taking the blame for errors that were not only his? The general French sentiment seems to be that yes, this poor man is the scapegoat and that the bank turned a blind eye as long as he earned money, even though he had overstepped his bounds.

Today, because of the poor management of this trader, there is pressure to further investigate the bank's activities and understand how such a gross oversight could have happened. The loss of 5 billion euros is no small deal, but this man was trading in the 50 - 70 billion range...the value of the bank itself. In class our professor told us a joke: How are you greeted now when you walk into the Societe Generale? "Give me five!" It is very possible the banks president will eventually step down and be subject to questionning himself (despite his protective shroud of elite membership), but at the moment, pressure remains on the small trader who lost 5 billion euros.