As you report, Jérôme Kerviel, the Société Générale trader whose rogue bets lost his bank nearly five-billion euros in early 2008, has published a book ahead of his trial next month (“J’accuse,” May 8, 2010). He cleverly concealed the bets he was making with a series of offsetting transactions with fictional counterparties. And he admits as much in his book. But he also exposes a lot of similar or worse misdeeds by his colleagues and bosses at the Société Générale. At best, as you point out, the bank looks extremely incompetent at monitoring its traders. Kerviel is one among quite a number of rogue traders in the system, though. Another is Fabrice Tourre of Goldman Sachs, who is also in the news together with his bosses. Of course, a financial system that relies upon such individuals is suspect as such. If a bunch of rogue traders like Kerviel and Tourre can derail the entire system, who will be able to trust it ever again?