First face-to-face with shareholders for SocGen chiefs

AFP, May, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — Directors at French bank Societe Generale come face-to-face with shareholders on Tuesday for the first time since a rogue trader scandal wiped billions from the bank's balance-sheet.

Some 300,000 shareholders are entitled to attend the company's annual general meeting in western Paris's La Defense business district at 4:30 pm (1430 GMT), with the gathering being broadcast live on the group's website.

The board is expected to come under fire as the value of shares has plummeted from 135 euros (213 dollars) in June 2007 to less than 67 euros on Monday.

Directors at two other French banks, Credit Agricole and Natixis, have already faced sharp criticism over their own exposure to the global credit squeeze triggered by the US sub-prime mortgage...