Rogue trader culture is more rife than ever
With banks reeling from numerous scandals and the London financial district under intense pressure to reform itself, Mr Leeson said that unless punishments are increased traders will continue to run amok.
“Rogue trading is on the increase. The latest scandals are just a sign that the culture is running riot without any checks in place.
“Every day you wake up and see something different,” he told The Independent.
The most recent trading fiasco’s include Kweku Adoboli’s $2 billion of losses at UBS – he was held in custody but subsequently released -– the €4.9 billion racked up by Jérôme Kerviel of Société Gé*érale, whom the French authorities sentenced to three years in prison, and Bruno Iksil, the so-called London Whale who is at the centre of the huge trading losses at JPMorgan.
Mr Leeson said: “The inference in the Whale case is that his superiors told him to inflate prices. And in the Libor case, it looks like a degree of complicity with the regulators. It was one rogue element in my case, now it seems wider.”
He thinks that the Libor case is the worst of the bunch. The investigation has already seen Barclays pay £290 million in fines; and the probe is widening daily.
