Crédit Agricole lost €250M in unauthorized trading at its New York subsidiary

Crédit Agricole was France's largest retail bank and one of Europe's biggest financial institutions. In September 2007, the bank disclosed that its New York subsidiary had suffered an unauthorized trading loss that required a €250 million ($340 million) charge.

The loss came from a trader or trading desk at the New York operation that had exceeded its authorized limits, taking positions that the bank's risk management systems had not caught in time. The bank did not name the trader or disclose the specific instruments involved, but the scale of the loss — one of the largest rogue-trading incidents at a European bank that year — forced Crédit Agricole to revise its earnings guidance downward.

The incident occurred at a particularly sensitive time for the global banking industry. The subprime mortgage crisis was accelerating, and just weeks later Crédit Agricole would reveal massive subprime-related losses. The unauthorized trading loss compounded the bank's vulnerability heading into the financial crisis.