SGX has come a long way since Barings debacle
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, Nick Leeson, a 28-year-old head of derivatives at Barings Bank in Singapore, made more than US$1 billion in unhedged, unauthorised speculative trades, eliminating the merchant bank's cash reserves.
Britain's oldest investment bank, which was founded in 1762 and listed Queen Elizabeth II among its clients, was declared insolvent and ceased to exist in February 1995.
In charge of arbitrage trades involving contracts for the Japanese Nikkei 225 trading on both the Osaka Securities Exchange and the then Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex), Leeson manipulated internal accounting systems and falsified trading records in a bid to hide his losses from the bank's London headquarters.
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Companies & Markets
UBS weighs synthetic risk transfer amid capital boost proposals
Oil settles higher on supply concerns in the Mid-East, economic woes subdue gains
S-Reits falter as investors weigh possibility of zero rate cuts in 2024
CapitaLand Investment posts total revenue of S$650 million for Q1
Europe: Stoxx 600 logs best day in three months as banks shine
US: Stocks rally after strong tech results