No surprises to hear that Eric Cordelle, the head of the SocGen Delta desk where trader Jerome Kerviel managed to lose a record $7.7bn, said that he (Cordelle) really wasn't up to the task of effectively supervising his subordinates.

The International herald Tribune quotes from a recent interview Cordelle had with French daily newspaper Le Figaro, during which he said: 'I think an experienced desk chief could probably have detected Jerome's frauds. I had management experience, not trading experience. I had no road map, no training, no information'.

The New York Times DealBook column has a few interesting insights by Lazard boss Bruce Wasserstein. Speaking at a breakfast panel in New York earlier this week, Wasserstein described Lehman CEO Dick Fuld as 'very able', said that he felt that the damage from the credit crisis 'would go on for another year', and insisted that the Ph.Ds which dominate Wall Street's risk management units 'have proven to be worthless, if not harmful'. He said that 'anyone could do a better job. Randomly throwing a dart would do a better job'.

Finally, The Financial Times reports that Bear Stearns tried to do a refinancing deal with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek just days before it was forced into the arms of JPMorgan Chase. Temasek is said to have declined to get involved for both practical and political reasons.

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