Operational risk control: Société Geénérale and other well-known cases

Abstract

This paper attempts to establish a parallel between Société Geénérale (SG) and other well-known cases in which operational risk control breaks or gaps led to massive losses and other devastating consequences to the financial institutions in which they occurred. This paper seeks to draw valuable operational risk control lessons that can be applied to the industry, analysing specific circumstances that seem to be present not only at SG, but also at other well-known institutions, such as Barings Bank, Morgan Grenfell, Allied Irish, Daiwa and Mizuho Securities, among others.