Nick Leeson and Barings Bank Incident
Events leading to Barings Bank's collapse
Barings Bank's activities in Singapore between 1992 and 1995 enabled Nick Leeson to operate effectively without supervision from Barings Bank in London. Leeson acted both as head of settlement operations (charged with ensuring accurate accounting) and as floor manager for Barings' trading onSingapore International Monetary Exchange, or SIMEX. This placed Leeson in the position of reporting to an office inside Barings Bank which he himself held.
Because of the absence of oversight, Leeson was able to make seemingly small gambles in the futures market and cover for his shortfalls by reporting losses as gains to Barings in London. Specifically, Leeson altered the branch's error account, subsequently known by its account number 88888 as the "five-eights account", to prevent the London office from receiving the standard daily reports on trading, price, and status.
Using the hidden "five-eights account," Leeson began to agressively trade in futures and options on SIMEX. His decisions routinely lost substantial sums, but he used money entrusted to the bank by subsidiaries for use in their own accounts. He falsifed trading records in the bank's computer systems, and used money intended for margin payments on other trading.
Barings Bank management in London at first congratulated and rewarded Leeson for what seemed to be his outstanding trading profits. After two years of steady losses covered up by the unknown "five-eights" error account, Barings Bank auditors finally discovered the fraud, but it was too late. Nick Leeson's activities had generated losses totaling £830 million. [2] Barings collapsed on February 26,1995.
Barings was purchased by the Dutch bank/insurance company ING for the nominal sum of £1 along with assumption of all of Barings liabilities. Barings Bank therefore no longer has a separate corporate existence, although the Barings name still lived on as Baring Asset Management. BAM was split and sold by
Barings Bank's activities in Singapore between 1992 and 1995 enabled Nick Leeson to operate effectively without supervision from Barings Bank in London. Leeson acted both as head of settlement operations (charged with ensuring accurate accounting) and as floor manager for Barings' trading onSingapore International Monetary Exchange, or SIMEX. This placed Leeson in the position of reporting to an office inside Barings Bank which he himself held.
Because of the absence of oversight, Leeson was able to make seemingly small gambles in the futures market and cover for his shortfalls by reporting losses as gains to Barings in London. Specifically, Leeson altered the branch's error account, subsequently known by its account number 88888 as the "five-eights account", to prevent the London office from receiving the standard daily reports on trading, price, and status.
Using the hidden "five-eights account," Leeson began to agressively trade in futures and options on SIMEX. His decisions routinely lost substantial sums, but he used money entrusted to the bank by subsidiaries for use in their own accounts. He falsifed trading records in the bank's computer systems, and used money intended for margin payments on other trading.
Barings Bank management in London at first congratulated and rewarded Leeson for what seemed to be his outstanding trading profits. After two years of steady losses covered up by the unknown "five-eights" error account, Barings Bank auditors finally discovered the fraud, but it was too late. Nick Leeson's activities had generated losses totaling £830 million. [2] Barings collapsed on February 26,1995.
Barings was purchased by the Dutch bank/insurance company ING for the nominal sum of £1 along with assumption of all of Barings liabilities. Barings Bank therefore no longer has a separate corporate existence, although the Barings name still lived on as Baring Asset Management. BAM was split and sold by