The trader was Nick Leeson. He had grown up in the Watford suburb of London. After attending university, he worked briefly for Morgan Stanley before joining Barings. At both firms, he worked in operations, but shortly after joining Barings, he applied for and received a transfer to the Far East. His first task when he arrived was working through a back-office mess in Jakarta. The bank held GBP 100MM in stock certificates and bearer bonds that were not in deliverable form. Many of the stocks had been purchased on behalf of clients. Because the stock market had subsequently declined, the clients were trying to avoid taking delivery—they complained that certificates were in the wrong denomination, not properly document or in physically unacceptable condition. Over a period of 10 months, Leeson worked his way through the certificates, addressing the problems and making delivery.