Rogue Trader

Nick Leeson

Level 3

And the story continues ...

hursday 23 February 1995

'How are you, Tony? Good day?'

'Great day, Nick, great day. How was the market?'

'Wonderful,' I lied.

Like many others at Barings in London, Tony Railton knew all about my success. I wanted him to continue to believe the stories. He was in the Singapore office to do a check. But he didn't really know about the 88888 account yet.

'I need a meeting with you. I've found a hole in the balance sheet. Could you come to a quick meeting this afternoon?' he asked. 'Then there's that meeting on Saturday, as you know.'

'I can't do Saturday,' I said. 'It's my birthday. Lisa's made a few plans. And can we meet later this afternoon? Lisa's just called. She's sick. I have to go home to check on her. I'll be back around 4.30'

'Thanks, Nick.' Tony Railton was just happy to get his meeting. He started to do some other work. I was glad that he couldn't see the papers on my desk. They showed terrible losses. Of course, with just a few simple checks, he could discover them at any time.

Simon Jones, one of the Barings managers for South Asia, came into the office.

'Nick,' he said. 'There are one or two things that we don't understand on the balance sheet. Can we have a meeting?'

I gave him a smile. 'Sure,' I said, 'no problem. In fact, Tony's just asked me for a meeting at 4.30. Why don't we talk about the balance sheet then?'

I knew I had to get out of Singapore. I thought about taking the 88888 papers with me. But why?

'Tomorrow everyone will know my secret,' I told myself.

I said goodbye to Tony Railton and Simon Jones and left the office. In the lift, I got out my phone and called Lisa.

'I'm coming home to get you,' I told her. 'We're leaving.'

Lisa knew nothing about my problem at Barings. In her eyes, I was very successful. She didn't know about the first small mistake by one of the traders back in 1992. The one that started it all. And she didn't know about today's terrible losses.

There wasn't much traffic and I was home in ten minutes. Lisa was waiting for me outside. In the car, I tried to explain what was happening.

'Listen, Lisa,' I began. 'I've made some terrible mistakes at work. We've got to leave Singapore.'