Oct 26 (Reuters) - French bank Credit Agricole said it had no plans for talks on a merger with rival Societe Generale and insurer Groupama, after Le Monde newspaper reported that Agricole was studying such a deal.
Following is a timeline of events at SocGen since it announced billions in losses due to unauthorized trading by a junior trader in 2008.
Jan. 24, 2008 - SocGen issues a statement saying it has uncovered a fraud involving junior trader Jerome Kerviel, resulting in losses of 4.9 billion euros.
Jan. 28 - Paris prosecutor says Kerviel admitted hiding his activities from superiors but added that Kerviel had said other traders played fast and loose with bank rules.
Jan. 30 - A SocGen board meeting decides that chief Daniel Bouton and his deputy Philippe Citerne should stay on.
Feb. 20 - An internal investigation into the massive trading loss finds controls at the bank lacked depth.
Feb. 21 - SocGen confirms a record fourth-quarter loss of 3.35 billion euros.
Feb. 25 - Bouton says he will continue to lead the bank despite having offered his resignation twice. March 21 - SocGen says it will defend itself against a U.S. class action suit alleging the French bank misled investors about its exposure in the subprime mortgage markets and failed to act on information about trades by Kerviel.
April 9 - Bouton says his bank is tightening control systems.
April 17 - SocGen says Bouton is relinquishing his job as chief executive but will stay on as chairman of the board.
May 23 - A report by SocGen says that Kerviel may have had internal help when he built up massive stock market bets. The report also blames weak supervision and poor control systems.
May 27 - Angry shareholders at an annual general meeting jeer at Bouton and liken the bank to a "casino".
Oct. 20 - Economy Minister Christine Lagarde announces the injection of 10.5 billion euros in banks by year-end; SocGen to receive 1.7 billion euros.
March 20, 2009 - President Nicolas Sarkozy criticises SocGen for awarding stock options to top executives after it had taken government aid.
March 22 - SocGen says four of its bosses, including Bouton, will give up stock options they had awarded themselves.
April 29 - Bouton says he will resign as chairman as of May 6.
May 6 - Chief Executive Frederic Oudea becomes chairman.
Aug. 6 - France's market watchdog begins an insider trading probe against two Societe Generale executives, including Jean-Pierre Mustier, who announced his resignation. Mustier, once seen as a future head of SocGen, ran the group's investment banking arm at the time of the Jerome Kerviel scandal.
Aug. 31 - Jerome Kerviel is ordered to stand trial.
Oct. 6 - Launches a 4.8 billion-euro ($7 billion) rights issue to repay state support and fund takeovers.
Oct. 26 - Credit Agricole says it has not engaged SocGen and Groupama in any merger talks and has no intention of doing so. (Writing by Jijo Jacob, Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit; Additional writing by Carl Bagh; Additional writing and editing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Tiisetso Motseoneng))