IF FRÉDÉRIC OUDÉA had a wicked sense of humour he could have called his fourth child Jérôme. But that may have been a step too far for the man this week named chief executive-designate of Société Générale, the French bank hit by a rogue trading scandal allegedly involving a junior trader of the same name.

Mr Oudéa, the bank's former finance director, openly admits to colleagues that he has had little time to spend with his young son, born just hours after the scandal hit the headlines.

Mr Oudéa will take up the reins in May as his mentor, Daniel Bouton, splits his roles in a restructuring aimed at quelling questions about the bank's governance.

The curriculum vitae of the 44-year-old reads like a three-star menu of the French elite. Secondary school at the prestigious Paris lycée Louis Le Grand was followed by a degree at the Polytechnique, training ground for France's top mathematicians. Then came the École Nationale d'Administration, whose graduates form the select corps from which French business and political leaders are chosen. The fact that Mr Oudéa was able to go straight into the prestigious finance inspectorate - reserved for only the brightest of the ENA graduates - has given him a reputation for a fierce intellect.

He was handpicked from the cabinet of then budget minister Nicolas Sarkozy by fellow Enarque Mr Bouton in 1995 and within a year he was head of SocGen's corporate banking arm in London.

He became finance director in 2003. His promotion to chief executive comes earlier than many had expected, but the chances of his main rival, Jean-Pierre Mustier, were scuppered when the scandal was discovered in the investment and corporate banking division he ran.