Every financial institution endured a tumultuous 2008, but few had an experience that started so dramatically as the events that took place at the Paris headquarters of Société Générale one year ago this week. It was on January 20, 2008 that the bank uncovered a rogue trading scandal that cost it €4.9bn, rocked the markets and forced it into a emergency rights issue.

What followed was a fight for survival as SocGen tried to rebuild its reputation and avoid the takeover clutches of its biggest rival, BNP Paribas.