The chairman of Société Générale announced his resignation today amid growing public criticism of his performance, Reuters reports. Daniel Bouton had been scolded by Nicolas Sarkozy for his handling of the rogue trading affair that cost the bank $6.4 billion; last month the president attacked the bank for its handling of executive pay packages. In a statement, Bouton blamed the "repeated attacks against me personally" for his decision to go.
Bouton had originally served as joint CEO and chairman of SocGen, but he relinquished his CEO role in the wake of the trading scandal. Analysts said that his full resignation had been expected. "I don't think it has anything to do with the bank's financial performance. It was due to the political pressure," said one. (More France stories.)