The Guy Ewan McGregor Played

“Nick isn’t here. He’s on a business trip to Hong Kong.”
The receptionist at Galway United FC said this without batting an eyelid.
“But why would the esteemed General Manager of an Irish D2 club need to travel all the way to Asia for work?” you might ask.

The truth is, Nick Leeson knows Asia well.
Especially Singapore and its financial exchange, the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX).
After all, Nick is no ordinary manager.
Nick is a “rogue trader.”

He’s the guy Ewan McGregor played in the movie "Rogue Trader".
In other words, Nick Leeson is the man who, in 1995, brought down Barings Bank, one of Britain’s most prestigious banks, in just about three years.

£50 at West Ham

Born in a working-class neighborhood in Watford, Nick was more interested in football than in honest work.
But this man was shrewd. Starting as a runner for "The City," he moved on to be a gofer, and finally infiltrated the management ranks at Barings Bank.
His job was “settling bonds.” Once he was in an office, things accelerated rapidly. In 1992, at just 25 years old, he became the head of the trading division in Singapore.
Like most traders at the time, Nick hadn't studied the financial industry's new products (he was involved in futures trading). But he quickly got the hang of it. He made a lot of money through bluffing.

“If I’d been asked about basic accounting, I’d have been in trouble.”
Dressed in a yellow and black striped jacket and a crazy tie, Nick generated 10% of Barings Bank's "financial products" division's profits in his first year, all by himself.
However, his joy might have been greater when he won £50 betting on West Ham or Manchester City.
“I worked really hard back then. Everything was going well, and I still had time to play football.”