#117 - Nick Leeson - I Lost £862 Million and Collapsed a Bank
The Peter McCormack Show
Peter McCormack
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2025
⏱️ 97 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1995, 28-year-old trader Nick Leeson caused the collapse of Barings Bank after racking up £862 million in hidden losses. He fled Singapore, was arrested in Frankfurt, extradited and served over 4 years in a Singaporean prison.
We cover:
– How it started with a £10K loss
– What went wrong, who knew & how it was hidden
– Why the bank kept giving him money
– Being on the run
– Life in prison & how it changed him
– Reflecting on success, failure & fatherhood
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 – Intro
00:06:00 – From Maths Failure to Banker
00:08:18 – Headhunted by Barings
00:10:15 – Entering the Trading Pit
00:14:33 – The First £10K Loss
00:21:23 – Fear of Failure
00:26:35 – He Was Half the Market
00:35:18 – Options Strategy to Survive
00:39:41 – From £20M Loss to Breakeven
00:47:29 – Barings Sends All Their Cash
00:51:04 – It Was a Confidence Trick
00:55:01 – The Moment He Fled
01:00:00 – Headlines Hit the Newsstands
01:02:24 – Getting Caught
01:05:39 – Arrested on the Tarmac
01:08:29 – Jail in Germany
01:11:00 – Prison, Introspection & Change
01:13:31 – Did Anyone Lose Money?
01:20:30 – Life After Prison
01:23:32 – Speaking, Rebuilding & Psychology
01:25:42 – Letting Go of the Past
01:27:47 – Being a Dad Now
01:35:23 – Closing Thoughts
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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR
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EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So I lost 862 million pound through my illegal trading in Singapore and that caused the collapse of the bank. |
| 0:07.9 | I left Singapore on the 23rd of February 1995. That was the day I fled Singapore. So they'd sent somebody from |
| 0:15.8 | London, a guy called Tony Relton, to look at what was going on in Singapore. So they were finally getting close to this reconciliation. |
| 0:23.4 | He didn't do it for the first two and a half weeks, but then he did a reconciliation. |
| 0:27.6 | He came to me with a simple piece of paper like you've got in front of you. |
| 0:31.9 | You know, A plus B doesn't equal C. |
| 0:35.1 | Explain why it doesn't equal C. |
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