Societe Generale chairman resigns

Societe Generale chairman resigns

法国兴业银行行长辞职

Societe Generale's chairman Daniel Bouton has announced his resignation, saying the personal attacks against him risked "harming the bank".

Mr Bouton has faced increasing criticism ever since a rogue（流氓，游手好闲）trader lost the bank 4.9bn euros ($6.5bn; £4.4bn) at the start of 2008.

SocGen then needed a 1.7bn-euro loan from the government in December because of the impact of the credit crisis.

Last month, SocGen bosses gave up their annual bonuses （红利，奖金）following public anger.

Mr Bouton, who admitted that "like any manager I have certainly made mistakes", will now stand down on 6 May.

"The repeated attacks against me personally in France for the past 15 months affect me, but most of all, they risk harming the bank and its 163,000 employees," he said.

"In the present financial and economic storm, priority（优先权）must go to unity¹. It is better for me to withdraw,（退出） proud of having led a wonderful company."

(本文由在线英语听力室编辑整理)

 

1 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。