Mail on Sunday makes second apology to French bank

The Mail on Sunday has issued a further apology to the French bank Société Générale, over a story last summer claiming that it was "in dire financial difficulties". The paper first published an apology last August, two days after the article was published, but a second version appeared yesterday announcing that the paper had now agreed to pay damages to the bank. Yesterday's apology reads: "On August 7, 2011, we reported Société Générale was in dire financial difficulties because of its exposure to Greek debt, and that the French government was on standby to bail out the bank. "We accept that this was untrue; the bank was not in serious financial difficulties, nor was it on the brink of insolvency or in line for a bailout from the French government. We have apologised to the bank and have agreed to pay damages." The Guardian reported last November that Société Générale was "not satisfied" with the original apology, which it said was "hard to find" on the website and had not appeared in the newspaper.