Daniel Bouton, Chairman of Societe Generale, has decided to resign as of 6th May.
According to a statement by Bouton: The repeated attacks against me personally in France for the past fifteen months affect me, but most of all, they risk harming the bank and its 163,000 employees. In the recent financial and economic storm, priority must go to unity.
Bouton has received stinging criticism from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, over the handling of the Kerivel affair, where a junior trader at Societe Generale lost EUR4.9 billion through unauthorized trades.
Many analysts had expected Boutons resignation sooner under such political pressure. Bouton will not receive any golden handshake for his 10 years at the helm.