Rogue's Gallery

10 years ago

Below are listed some of the heavyweight 'rogue' traders who have left their mark on the financial markets over the past few years.

Sumitomo's Yasuo Hamanaka.

The metal trader managed to lose $1.3bn in bad copper trades and was able to remain undiscovered for some time. He was jailed in 1996.

Nick Leeson.

The man who brought down Barings. His activities in Singapore cost the bank much more than the $1.2bn lost. Leeson was jailed for fraud in 1995 and released four years later.

Peter Young from Morgan Grenfell Asset Management.

Young undertook unauthorized investments that cost the fund manager, owned by Deutsche Bank, $308m. He stunned the City more by turning up at his trial dressed as a woman. His ploy worked as he was found unfit to stand trial.

On a more amusing note, in 1998 a Salomon trader was believed to have sold $1.9bn of French government bonds. The transaction was triggered when he accidently leaned on his keyboard.