A SocGen Trading Desk Was Shut Down After the Team Lost $20 Million in 2018
- Descartes Trading unit’s assets shrank 29% last year: filing
- French bank moved to close the prop-trading division in April
Visitors arrive at the headquarter offices of Societe Generale SA in the La Defense business district in Paris, France.
Photographer: Christophe Morin/Bloomberg
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A team of traders at Societe Generale SA lost about 18 million euros ($20 million) on speculative market bets in 2018, prompting the French lender to begin shuttering the desk a few weeks later, U.K. filings show.
SocGen’s Descartes Trading division, set up to make proprietary trades for the Paris-based bank, swung to the loss from a 17.6 million-euro profit in the prior year, according to a filed with Companies House in the U.K. The desk was “less performing’’ because of adverse markets and cautious strategies, the filing shows.