Jean-Pierre Mustier’s New Year’s resolution for 2008 was to “start a meditation practice on the trading floor”. While the head of Société Générale’s corporate and investment banking business showed remarkable foresight, it is unlikely that meditation alone will dig SG CIB out of the €4.9bn ($7.2bn) hole that it announced today, or indeed that it will save the whole bank from a break-up or sale.

In a prescient research note this week, Credit Suisse warned the bank is “too exposed to the state of health of the capital markets to perform strongly in a stressed environment”. The ability of a rogue trader to wipe out almost €5bn was probably not the risk they had in mind, but it undermines the business model of the bank’s most important business.