Leeson worked at the Singapore branch of Barings Bank PLC, the blue-blooded British merchant bank founded in 1763 that catered to royalty and was at the pinnacle of the London financial world. Among its many accomplishments over the centuries, Barings financed both the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Napoleonic Wars. But the road to success was not always smooth. The bank endured both wars and depressions, and it overcame near-bankruptcy in 1890, surviving only because it was bailed out at the last minute by the Bank of England. In spite of these sporadic periods of turmoil, Barings was always one of the most well-placedand highly regarded players in London’s financial hub. How ironic that this centuries-old bank would be toppled by one man operating out of Barings’ remote Singapore affiliate. Leeson was the chief trader for Barings’ Singapore affiliate, dealing mainly in futures contracts on both the Nikkei 225 index2 and 10-year Japanese government bonds. Due to his huge trading profits, Leeson earned a reputation among Barings’ management in London, Tokyo, and Singapore as a star performer, and he was given virtually free rein. Many of Barings Bank’s top management believed that Leeson possessed an innate feel for the markets, but the story of this rogue trader reveals that he had nothing of the sort. How, one wonders, could Barings’ management have been so seriously mistaken and for so long