By Thierry Leveque and Matthieu Protard
PARIS (Reuters) - Rogue trader Jerome Kerviel kept his unauthorised risky bets at Societe Generale hidden to "save appearances," the 33-year-old said on Monday.
Although he said he never admitted the unauthorised trading to superiors, Kerviel told the court in the Palais de Justice it was impossible they did not know what he was doing.
Kerviel spoke after SocGen's head of global markets insisted the bank was unaware of Kerviel's positions that cost it 4.9 billion euros (4 billion pound) to unwind in 2008.
"(I hid the positions) to save appearances. What I was doing was obvious to everyone, but I wanted to give the impression, the appearance of a cover," he said.
The ex-trader does not deny building up positions worth an estimated 50 billion euros but insists his bosses knew what he was doing. SocGen has denied tacit complicity and demands Kerviel be sentenced.
Kerviel risks five years in prison and a 375,000 euros fine if found guilty of charges of breach of trust, computer abuse and forgery. His trial began on Tuesday amid a media frenzy over one of the most famous faces of the financial crisis in France.
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SocGen's representative in court, Claire Dumas, said the bank was unable to detect the fictitious positions Kerviel used as cover because the trader knew how to work the system.
"He took out all the young girls from the support desk," said Dumas. "He was one of the rare traders who spoke to them politely."
She added Kerviel would put fictitious orders through discreet channels, for example via an internal unit that was little monitored if at all.
SocGen's head of global markets, Christophe Mianne, also said the bank could not have been aware of Kerviel's unauthorised bets because he covered his tracks.
"Mr. Kerviel's superiors were unaware. This is my strong conviction," said Mianne. He described Kerviel's actions as criminal and said the former trader had shown a complete denial of reality and of his losses.
"I saw many red eyes and tears (from employees when Kerviel was found out)," added Mianne. "I don't think they were acting."
However, a former compliance officer at SocGen told the court there would have been several databases available to Kerviel's superiors where all trading operations could be tracked.
Kerviel's superiors would also have been able to track any changes made in the data entry system to mask positions, added Valerie Rolland, a friend of Kerviel who was due to be his marriage witness.
"I can confirm Jerome was someone normal, not a high roller, a friend," she said before bursting into tears.
(Writing by Lionel Laurent; Editing by Mike Nesbit and David Holmes)
