(Reuters) - Societe Generale boss Frederic Oudea is having to work harder to keep his promise of a new dawn after the bank's devastating trading scandal in 2008.
The company veteran -- still only 48 years old -- has seen the value of France's number-two bank slump by almost 50 percent since the end of June. Market concerns whether SocGen had sufficient access to dollar funding are compounding existing fears the bank had adequately buried the Jerome Kerviel legacy.
"This is what happens when you have an event as ridiculous as Kerviel," said a London-based bank analyst. "A lot of fund managers would first sell SocGen before (French rival) BNP Paribas BNP.PA or others, because of management."
Kerviel's rogue bets, that cost the bank a stunning 4.9 billion euros ($6.90 billion), continue to undermine Oudea's assurances SocGen is now heading toward a risk-free future of smooth results and strong capital.
Liquidity concerns have pummeled bank shares in Europe across the board -- the STOXX 600 Europe banks index .SX7P is down 27 percent since the end of June -- but SocGen was hit hardest among French peers.
Its real problem is a business model too skewed toward investment banking, an international retail franchise that is not yet bearing fruit and lingering worries over capital, investors say.
"The problem with Societe Generale is that it lacks a firm pedestal," said Yohan Salleron, a fund manager at Mandarine Gestion with 1.1 billion euros under management, who closed out his position in SocGen in July.
