The rudderless bank. (collapse of Barings British merchant bank blamed on poor management)(The World This Week: Business and Finance)(Brief Article)

Economist (US), The, July, 1995

An official report blamed the collapse of Barings on lax management at the British merchant bank, which allowed "the unauthorised and ultimately catastrophic activities of, it appears, one individual": Nick Leeson, a trader in Singapore who ran up losses of Pounds 830m ($1.3 billion) in a little over two years. The Bank of England and Barings' auditors, Coopers & Lybrand, also came in for criticism. One Bank supervisory official resigned.

Germany's Commerzbank, which is bidding for Smith New Court, a British securities firm, gained a foothold in America with the purchase of a 60% stake in Boston-based Martingale, a firm of asset managers, with the option of raising it to 70% by 1998.

German authorities introduced a code, of sorts, governing the conduct of...

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