Toshihide Iguchi, a Kobe, Japan-born US citizen who majored in psychology atSouthwest Missouri State University, Springfield, joined Daiwa’s New York branch in1977. There he learned how to run the small back office of the branch’s securitiesbusiness. Opened as an office in the 1950s, the Daiwa New York branch begandealing in US Treasury securities as part of Daiwa’s services to its pension fundcustomers. During the 1980s the New York desk became a significant force in the USgovernment debt market and was designated as a primary market dealer in 1986
When Iguchi was promoted to become a trader in 1984, he did not relinquish hisback-office duties. All in all, he supervised the securities custody department at theNew York branch from approximately 1977 right through to 1995. This lack of segregation, a relatively common feature of small trading desks in the early 1980sbut already a discredited practice by the early 1990s, led to Daiwa’s downfall.