SocGen's Bouton says bank to overcome "shock"

PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale Chairman Daniel Bouton told a newspaper the French bank would overcome its "shock" at having discovered an alleged $7 billion (3.6 billion pound) internal fraud.

"We've experienced a shock but we will overcome it together," Bouton was quoted as saying by Le Figaro on Saturday.

He also reiterated that France's second-biggest listed bank remained in a financially strong position and had a good reputation.

Bouton denied market speculation that SocGen might have been behind a global stock market slump on Monday after it had to unwind trading positions following its discovery of the alleged fraud situation last weekend.

"It's absurd. It was the Asian stockmarkets which set the ball rolling on Monday," he said.

Asked whether SocGen could be the subject of a hostile takeover bid in the short term, Bouton replied: "This would not be the first time since 1987."

On January 24, SocGen said it had discovered an alleged 4.9 billion euro fraud by one of its junior traders. It added it would raise 5.5 billion euros through a capital increase.

The bank also said the episode had caused Bouton to tender his resignation, but this was not accepted as SocGen's management wanted him to stay on and sort out the situation.

SocGen has not named the trader involved in the alleged fraud case, but company sources say it is 31-year old Jerome Kerviel.