Jérôme Kerviel, the man at the centre of the row over Société Générale's multibillion euro losses, said today that he will not be scapegoated by his employer over the affair.

Speaking to French news agency Agence France Presse, Kerviel reportedly said he accepted "his share of responsibility" for the €4.9bn (£3.7bn) losses, but insisted that he was not solely to blame.

"I never had any personal ambition in this affair. The aim was to earn money for the bank," said Kerviel, who said he had "got carried away" and had not acted for personal gain.

"You lose your sense of the sums involved when you are in this kind of work. It's disembodied. You get a bit carried away."

In the interview, his first since news of the losses broke on January 24, Kerviel also denied being suicidal or depressed.

French prosecutors have accused Kerviel of breach of trust, falsifying documents and breaching computer security.

SocGen claims that he evaded a range of internal controls to set up an unauthorised position worth about €50bn on the future direction of European financial markets.

But yesterday, a report handed to French finance minister Christine Lagarde said that SocGen's risk management and internal controls were inadequate. This cast new light on the claim that the losses were the work of a single rogue trader.

While investigations continue, Kerviel's new-found fame has sparked a small industry in spin-offs, including T-shirts and mugs, and thousands of bets on who might play him in a future film.