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Details on rogue trader's red flags

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Banking Industry
Goldman Sachs
risk
business model
proprietary trading

Goldman Sachs' hugely successful business model, which relies on proprietary trading, seems to be catching on at some companies. At Societe Generale, however, it has proven disastrous. The New York Times notes the bank was emphasizing proprietary trading and encouraging traders to take more risk at the time Jerome Kerviel came around. The bank even had an elite group of quant-like traders, known as "les moines-soldats," or the soldier-monks. Jerome Kerviel was not part of this group. He was from the back-office and was made a trader via a special program to promote from less glamorous parts of the bank. His special power was his extensive knowledge of the back-office system, which he gamed relentlessly. At one point, he was up $2 billion. Then it all crashed. Along the way, there were tons of red flags. 

For more:
- here's the New York Times article

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