Why your organization could be the next Barings Bank

Abstract

In February 1995, Simon Jones and Tony Railton of Barings Bank planned a meeting that afternoon with their star Singapore trader, Nick Leeson, to iron out a few financial discrepancies that had arisen in his Far Eastern office. A few minutes after the meeting was confirmed, Leeson made an excuse to leave the office … and never came back. It is common knowledge (as well as management folklore) what Leeson did leave behind – debts of over £850 million that brought down one of England’s most prestigious banks. At the time we thought that this scandal was a one‐off, never to be repeated story of deception and mismanagement. But when John Rusnak was arrested for covering up losses of £529 million at AIB earlier this year, senior managers were forced to ask themselves “could this happen to my organization?”

Citation

(2002), "Why your organization could be the next Barings Bank", Strategic Direction, Vol. 18 No. 11, pp. 4-6. https://doi.org/10.1108/02580540210794067