A trader accused of causing huge losses at French bank Societe Generale is under police protection, the country’s finance minister said today, while the bank’s legal troubles have expanded to the United States.

The board of scandal-marred French bank Societe Generale met today as its top executive came under intense pressure over the loss of billions of euro blamed on a rogue trader.

Accused French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel told police his Societe Generale bosses must have been aware of his massive risk-taking on markets but turned a blind eye as long as he earned money, a judicial official said tonight.

The French government will back troubled bank Societe Generale against any attempted takeovers while it remains weakened by the rogue trader scandal, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said today.

Investigating judges filed preliminary charges against a trader accused of causing billions of euros in losses at France's second-largest bank.

Investigating judges filed preliminary charges today against Jerome Kerviel, the bank trader accused in a €4.9bn fraud case against Societe Generale, France’s second-largest bank, his lawyer said.

Rogue trader Jerome Kerviel carried out his massive fraud in an attempt to become a star worker, a French prosecutor said today.

French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel is expected to be freed on bail when he appears in court today as part of the initial criminal investigation into his €4.9bn fraud.

France’s finance minister said today that it appears that a trader allegedly behind huge losses at French bank Societe Generale acted alone.

French police searched the headquarters of banking giant Societe Generale as part of a probe into massive fraud blamed on a single rogue trader, a bank official said today.

Within hours of being named as the man behind one of the biggest banking losses ever seen, rogue trader Jerome Kerviel was fast on his way to becoming an internet cult hero.

Rogue trader Jerome Kerviel was today being blamed for aggravating the turmoil that saw tens of billions of pounds wiped off the UK stock exchange earlier this week.

Societe Generale bank’s chief executive took out newspaper ads today begging shareholders to accept his “apologies and deep regrets” after a trader at the bank was accused of fraud costing the company €4.96bn.

As markets digested news of Societe Generale’s sensational losses at the hands of a rogue trader, questions soon turned to how such a fraud could be kept hidden for so long.

The rogue trader was named by the Financial Times newspaper as Jerome Kerviel, a Frenchman in his thirties who joined SocGen in 2000.

The second-biggest bank in France admitted today it has lost €4.9bn through a junior rogue trader who gambled it away on the world’s markets.