We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
FORMER TRADER NICK LEESON has spoken to TheJournal.ie about his continuing remorse over the Barings Bank collapse exactly 20 years ago this week.
British-born Leeson, who has lived in Co Galway for over a decade, said that he had to sit down his two sons, aged 10 and 15, this week to speak fully with them for the first time about his role in the major trading scandal.
Leeson’s speculative trading at Barings led to that institution’s collapse on 26 February 1995. It was one day after his 28th birthday.
In an exclusive memoir for TheJournal.ie - which will be published on site tomorrow morning – Leeson calls the days that the Barings scandal broke as “the most embarrassing period of my life”.
He also reveals how he had to sit his two sons, aged 10 and 15, down this week to prepare them for the renewed focus on the events of 20 years ago, before they were born.
I sat down with my two sons earlier this week to discuss in more detail than they’ve previously heard about the collapse of the bank and the messages that I would like them to take from my experiences.
Leeson, now 48, had joined Barings in London in 1989. By 1992, he was running a futures market operation for Barings on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange. His risky unauthorised trades led to large losses, which he hid in a secret ‘error’ account, therefore concealing the extent of the exposure to the bank.
By the time an internal audit spotted discrepancies, and Leeson had absconded to Kuala Lumpur, the losses have risen to stg£1 billion.
On 26 February 1995, Barings Bank ceased trading after over two centuries in business.
Nick Leeson was sentenced to six and a half years in a Singaporean jail, split from his wife and fought colon cancer.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Everyone deserves a second chance! Good luck with the rest of your life Nick.
He seems like a sound guy. We all f**k up at some stage.
There’s fooking up and there’s fooking up he didn’t do what he did by accident , hello reality check he did it deliberately .
You’re right Dirk, I burnt toast yesterday morning in work. I was morto!
He is always very upfront about his mistakes. I don’t know him personally obviously but I think he has learnt from his past and paid his dues and seems like a decent chap.
Seanie Fitz/David Drumm etc could take a leaf out of his book. But I suppose they’ve spent all their life living the high life and screwing people. And sure in Ireland that’s not really a crime unless you are working class.
Gambling is a sickness. Was it not a case that he got back to even at one point?
I was at a talk she gave about 6 years ago. He impressed me because he doesn’t hide behind anything. He openly admits that it was his fault and that he screwed up. He faced the consequences and came through it all. Incidentally at the time he was still paying money back and would have to for a considerable time to come.
He didn’t set out to destroy a bank Deco – his biggest mistake was to keep gambling with huge trades in the hope of recovering all the money he’d already lost, instead of just coming clean earlier, but that’s understandable enough if you genuinely think you can recover the situation. That’s what gamblers do, and successful traders/investors are all gamblers to some extent, albeit with calculated risks.
David drumm = nick leeson.. Only difference is time. People on here attack corrupt bankers all the time now the line is they’re ok .. I wonder will we forgive our own bankers as quick.
Where do you work? I must send in a CV. I make lovely toast.
Totally different situation Sergeant – are you even aware of the details of Nick Leeson’s case?
the bank were gambling at a huge rate and it was working for centuries until they handed the cash to the biggest f****n gambler in the history of mankind, Super Nick the gamblers gambler
Maybe he wasn’t a very good gambler, but he certainly wasn’t corrupt in the way some others are….
@ Deco James Connolly – actually, it wasn’t deliberate and there was no personal gain.
The guy took at punt on the Nikkei Dow and it went the wrong way.
His losses accumulated as he kept funding his Option Contracts which were now ‘out of the money’ considerably,
He panicked and concealed his losses in the infamous five 8′s account and then absconded.
What he did amounted to fraud and he paid the price but its unfair to say its was deliberate.
A lot of big bonuses were paid out to directors in London on the back of these fictitious profits that Leeson created and even when the bank was sold to ING for £1,directors still ensured that large bonuses were paid regardless of the fact that their loss and overall liability exceeded £1 billion.
Leeson was working class and state educated. Had he bave been educated at a leading public school with upper middle class credentials then the establishment would have closed ranks and protected him. Instead, they hung him out to dry!
This would never have happened in Anglo Irish Bank….
If this had happened in ireland he would have got promoted!
Or they would now be celebrities
It was only a billion , halfpenny place compared to our boys, and he was sent to Chengi , not the nicest of jails . There was a great movie about it with Ewan McGregor playing Nick
It just goes to show the insanity of the financial markets/industry, a 28 year old trader- employee destroyed a 200 year old British bank.
“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt”.- Bertrand Russell
Incredible to think that Bearings gave so much power and responsibility, coupled with so little oversight to someone so young. Nick is a great example of how you can recover from a situation that may seem insurmountable at the time you are in the middle of it.
David drumm.. Seanie fitz exactly the same.
Barings should have been monitoring what was going on – just like the banks here. Where the Central Bank was not fit for purpose.
And the politicians …. and the Anglo Tape stars who were able to discuss how they were going to become civil servants before NAMA was set up !
It was nice for John Bowe to get 5,000 euro towards a course while he was working for Anglo – State -sponsored – Enda was Taoiseach at the time – maybe he was on the phone to Kenya and missed it – sure what is 5 grand for John Bowe and he needing to upskill !
Very nice family man actually!
He collapsed an entire bank. I think embarrasing might be a little understatement there Nick old boy!
He lost billions. He got caught. He did his time. He accepts responsibility. If only the b*stards in Anglo Bank that gambled with all our futures even showed a hint of remorse or responsibility.
Go to bed, you’re drunk.
Talk about cryptic….. Why don’t you tell us what you mean?
He lives here – why wouldn’t he be on it??
Plus its 20 years since one of the biggest white collar crimes in history, Just filler.
What’s he got to do with the president
Light touch regulation Mc Creepy where is he now .
Oh he’s so charming……Let’s let him go
Lots of people here seem to like him . Not sure why is he not from the same mould as David drumm or whatever the guys name is ?
Galway United links them both – as I posted – So filler is content in rolling news or is it just to lull people into thinking that “Hey , you know those banker guys – they aren’t too bad you know !”
Guru – if you really are then talking to yourself in a drunken state belies your illusions of grandeur !
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say