Going for Broke: Nick Leeson and the Collapse of Barings Bank - Hardcover

Rawnsley, Judith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002556596 ISBN 13: 9780002556590

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1995

Synopsis

This work charts the development of Baring's Securities: its employment policies, work ethics, and the professional environment created by Christopher Heath. It describes the climate of greed which fostered the rise of Nick Leeson, the political struggles within the company which accomodated his rise to power, and the circumstances which allowed his fraudulent activities to go unchecked for over two years, culminating in the dramatic collapse of the Queen's bankers.

About this title

From the Back Cover

THE INSIDE STORY OF THE SPECTACULAR COLLAPSE OF BRITAIN'S OLDEST MERCHANT BANK

In 1994, Nick Leeson – king of the Singapore traders – seemed to be making Barings as much as $10 million a week. By February 1995, it was clear that his losses – approaching £850 million – were large enough singlehandedly to bring to its knees one of Britain's oldest and most venerable financial institutions. How could this happen? Could it happen again?

Judith Rawnsley, a former employee of Barings in the Far East, is in a unique position to provide the answers. In this unprecedented study of the internal operations of Barings, she charts the seven-year build-up to an accident waiting to happen, detailing the managerial politics and conflicts that set the stage for the disaster in London and the Far East, the culture and psychology of the trading floor. Hers is the inside story, the first and most authoritative account of the Barings affair.

'Relying on an impressive bevy of inside sources… Rawnsley gets as close as anyone to telling the full story… she writes with panache about the fantastic glitter of the world of money trading that blinded Leeson'
TIME

'Judith Rawnsley is able to bring a torch into two dark corners of the tale…: the mind of the individual gambler and the managerial dynamics that allowed the gambler to blow everyone else's chips… [she] breaks new ground'
HAMISH McRAE, 'Independent'

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0002556596
• ISBN 13: 9780002556590
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256