Regulation would not have prevented SocGen crisis

: Brussels
  
   BRUSSELS, Jan 29, 2008 (AFP) – No regulation measures could have prevented
the crisis which hit French bank Societe Generale, EU internal markets
commissioner Charlie McCreevy said Tuesday.
   "No regulation in the world could have foreseen what happened last week in
France," he told reporters in Brussels.
   The French government piled pressure on Societe Generale’s chairman Daniel
Bouton on Tuesday over multi-billion dollar losses at the bank for which rogue
trader Jerome Kerviel has been put under formal investigation, one step away
from being charged.
   Meanwhile questions were being asked about Societe Generale’s handling of
the 4.9-billion-euro (7.15 billion dollar) loss that is has blamed on the
junior trader.
   Later in a speech at a European Financial Services Conference, McCreevy
said that after the recent financial crisis, investors would learn to assess
the value of their portfolios yhemselves rather than relying on credit rating
agencies.
   "For the securitisation process… investors will learn to price these
complex securities (themselves)," he said.
    McCreevy said that nevertheless protectionist tendencies must be avoided.
   "I’ve always been very vocal with EU member states and national regulators
when protectionist tendencies spring up: it’s the same with third-party
(non-EU) countries," the EU Commissioner said.

AFP