Are banks just as hopeless as ever with money?

[danrok]

No doubt most people have heard about the latest alleged "rogue trader" in the news.

It seems astounding that someone who had only been working for 5 years, with apparently no relevant qualification, or previous experience, could be in a position to lose £1.3bn.

He had a BSc (Hons) in e-commerce and digital business, educated in flogging stuff on eBay, in other words!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/15/ubs-star-trader-arrest-career

Of course, there may be far more to this story, which is yet to be revealed.  But, no matter what, it seems like UBS has continued to act just as irresponsibly as ever, despite the cluster of ****s they created before.

[Calimachon]

I am sure that there are a lot more misdemeanours that go on that we never hear about. 

It is all so easy to criticize but I am sure none of the past errant bank traders ever walked through the Human Resources Dept with a slogan 'I am a possible Rogue Trader' written large across their foreheads.

Nick Leeson - purported to have cost his employers millions: http://www.nickleeson.com/


Jerome Kerviel - purported to hace cost his employers billions:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/24/french-trader-singlehande_n_82993.html

So this trader is definitely not the worst offender:

Kweku Adoboli
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14939629

Pity they didn't put their  brains, cunning and deviousness to good use but I do agree it is high time that banks started to bolt some doors.

Cali

[Chevalier Blanc]

They also need to carry on testing for the "Sniffing the line" employees. They did start doing it a few years ago random testing. They found quite a few employees were using it.  Now i have always said that when and if these people lose their job they will go on a stealing spree to fund their habit. Then see the the crime rate go up.

[Dundee]

Of course Jersey is not immune to such people, some may recall Allan Watts who later went on to report on finance issues for CTV.

[danrok]

I am sure that there are a lot more misdemeanours that go on that we never hear about. 

It is all so easy to criticize but I am sure none of the past errant bank traders ever walked through the Human Resources Dept with a slogan 'I am a possible Rogue Trader' written large across their foreheads.

Nick Leeson - purported to have cost his employers millions: http://www.nickleeson.com/


Jerome Kerviel - purported to hace cost his employers billions:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/24/french-trader-singlehande_n_82993.html

So this trader is definitely not the worst offender:

Kweku Adoboli
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14939629

Pity they didn't put their  brains, cunning and deviousness to good use but I do agree it is high time that banks started to bolt some doors.

Cali

In this instance, assuming the story is much as has been reported, this guy is far from clever, he is in jail.  Devious and dishonest on a large-scale is about all.

It is not so difficult for almost anyone in a position of trust, and responsibility, to alter records to conceal their activities.  They work for the company, and internal security is usually weak, an often based on trust alone.

What is far more difficult, if not impossible, is to conceal something like this from the end of period audit.  Figures presented by other external parties, i.e. those he was trading with, simply won't match UBS's own figures.

Presumably, their quarterly figures are soon to be prepared, and that is why he fessed up now, rather than sweat it for a few weeks and wait for them to discover his fraud.