Business Management

The true story of Nick Leeson, an employee of Barings bank in his twenties, who single-handedly caused the collapse of Baringspersonal bank to the Queen of England and one of the largest in the world at the time, is one of the most spectacular debacles in modern financial history.  How could one trader bring down the banking empire that had funded the Napoleonic Wars?  The answer: bad management control, among other mistakes.  Barings lost over $1 Billion, more than twice its available capital and went bankrupt.  Bad management control in London allowed Leeson responsibility for double-checking his own trades, rather than having him report to a superior. Instead of reigning-in his speculative gambles, and questionable behavior, Leeson continued to play increasingly bigger odds in an attempt to recover lost money.  Amazingly, he never benefited or embezzled, he simply tried to cover his mistakes with speculative and risky transactions.  He landed in a Singaporean jail where he spent almost a decade.

Find and watch the full length movie (free on YOUTUBE) and write a 1000 minimum word document with a short summary and your take on what can be learned from this, and what this case will allow you to teach future direct reports.  Be sure to include in-text citations if someone other than you wrote what you are including.