Following the success of the speakers so far we’ve decided to continue the series. We will be hosting a number in the weeks/months to come from ex-regulators, to ex-sports professionals, to convicted fraudsters.
Next up, Black Swan Group are hosting a Zoom session with Nick Leeson aka the “Rogue Trader” himself. https://www.nickleeson.com/
A first hand insight into the world of insider trading, ethics and conduct and a “must” for any HR, Risk, Compliance, Legal and Governance professionals to hear him speak.
The original rogue trader himself, I doubt there has been anyone more influential in the development of risk and compliance controls and the formulation of conduct risk teams around the globe!
Date : Tuesday 1st September 2020
Time : 3pm
Location : Zoom – Details will be sent out nearer the time.
Price: No charge
Please RSVP to [email protected] if interested (and if you wish any colleagues to attend with you) as places will be limited and once they’ve gone they’ve gone as we are restricted on capacity.
Bio
In the mid-1980s, Nick Leeson landed a job as a clerk with royal bank Coutts, followed by a string of positions with other banks, ending up at Barings, where he quickly made an impression and was promoted to the trading floor.
Before long, Nick was appointed the manager of a new operation in futures markets on the Singapore Monetary Exchange (SIMEX) and was soon making millions for Barings by betting on the future direction of the Nikkei Index. His bosses back in London, who viewed his large profits with glee, trusted the whizzkid. Leeson and his wife Lisa seemed to have everything: a salary of £50,000 with bonuses of up to £150,000, weekends in exotic places, a smart apartment, frequent parties and to top it all they seemed to be very much in love.
Barings wasn’t aware that it was exposed to any losses because Leeson claimed that he was executing purchase orders on behalf of a client. What the company did not realise, is that it was responsible for the 88888 error account where Leeson hid all of his losses. This account had been set up to cover up a mistake made by an inexperienced team member, which led to a loss of £20,000. Leeson now used this account to cover his own mounting losses.
As the losses grew, Leeson requested extra funds to continue trading, hoping to extricate himself from the mess by more deals. Over three months he bought more than 20,000 futures contracts worth about $180,000 each in a vain attempt to move the market. Some three quarters of the $1.3 billion he lost Barings resulted from these trades. When Barings executives discovered what had happened, they informed the Bank of England that Barings was effectively bust. In his wake Nick Leeson had wiped out the 233 year old Baring investment Bank, who proudly counted HM The Queen as a client. The $1.3 billion dollars of liabilities he had run up was more than the entire capital and reserves of the bank.
Eventually arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, Nick spent a few fraught months trying to escape extradition to Singapore. He failed and in December 1995 a court in Singapore sentenced him to six and a half years in prison.
Please join us to hear his story.
