The head of Societe Generale's corporate and investment banking is to step down along with about a dozen other managers following the rogue trading scandal at the French bank, the Mediapart online newspaper reported on Thursday.

Jean-Pierre Mustier, a close ally of Societe Generale Chairperson Daniel Bouton, is expected to leave his post "in the coming weeks", said Mediapart.

The dismissals would be the first fallout at the bank from the ?4.9-billion in losses incurred from unauthorised deals by trader Jerome Kerviel, who has been charged in the case, according to the report.

"About a dozen of Kerviel's managers and superiors" are to be dismissed, according to Mediapart. Attempts by AFP to contact Societe Generale for comment on Thursday were unsuccessful.

Mustier had presented his resignation to Bouton after Kerviel's deals were uncovered in January, but the chairperson had rejected it.

Societe Generale blames 31-year-old Kerviel for the mammoth losses incurred after the bank was forced to unwind more than ?50-billion of unauthorised deals he is said to have made.

Kerviel has maintained he acted alone but suggested his bosses knew he was dealing with huge sums of money and turned a blind eye as long as he was making a profit.

An internal bank inquiry found that Kerviel's unauthorised trading had not been detected because of his sophisticated techniques, but it also pointed the finger at internal audit and risk control failures.

Kerviel turned himself into police on 26 January, two days after the bank revealed the losses, and on 28 January was charged with breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers.

If found guilty of breach of trust, Kerviel would face a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of ?370 000.