SocGen to appoint CEO Frederic Oudea as new chairman

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- French bank Societe Generale said Wednesday that its Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea will replace Daniel Bouton as Chairman of the Board of Directors, a top-level shakeup trying to help bring stability to the scandal-hit bank

A board meeting on Wednesday co-opted Oudea, 45, as a director and decided to officially appoint him as Chairman of the Board at a meeting to be held on May 24.

Oudea had been the bank's Chief Financial Officer before being named chief executive last May.

Bouton resigned last week under huge pressure triggered by a wave of negative events that hit the bank and himself.

SocGen suffered a loss of nearly 5 billion euros (some 6.5 billion U.S. dollars) in January last year due to unauthorized trades conducted by its junior trader Jerome Kerviel. SocGen was fined 4 million euros for lack of supervision.

Oudea joined the French bank in 1995 and has worked for years in its London branch and national headquarters. He became the bank's financial chief in 2003.