Rogue Trader Leeson ReturnsÖAs An Employment Trouble Shooter

Scotlandís leading independent recruitment website, ScottishJobs.com, has sourced Nick Leeson, Britainís most celebrated rogue trader, to host an evening event on 9 May about the importance of getting employment decisions right.

The former Watford Council estate tear-away whose infamous investment career ended with the downfall of Barings bank in 1995, would seem in the first instance to be an unlikely pairing with top Scottish recruitment company ScottishJobs.com.

However, Leesonís rags-to-riches tale remains one of the most significant examples in British financial history of the potential pitfalls of poor HR decision-making and the ramifications of glaringly inadequate internal company controls.

His fraudulent and rather short-lived career with Barings subsequently comes laden with unique hindsight guidance about the importance of keeping a watchful eye on employee activity.

Though a regular guest speaker on the world ëconference trailí, the man whose fleeting investment career was glamourised by Ewan McGregor in the 1999 film Rogue Trader will for the first time be using his experience in more of an advisory capacity.

An expected audience of over one hundred Scottish business leaders and HR directors will descend upon Glasgowís The Lighthouse to hear Leesonís take on how to spot potentially fraudulent activity and the lack of proper employment controls that allowed him to temporarily hide the $1.3 billion in losses that bankrupted Barings.

Once known as the ëworldís most wanted maní just two days before his twenty-eighth birthday, the former derivatives trader ñ a role famously described by Linda Davies in her book Into The Fire as ëlike that of a bookie once removedí - executed a hasty departure from his Singapore trading desk leaving only a note behind that read ëIím sorryí as explanation.

Leeson, who single-handedly reduced investment bank Barings from a multi-million institution to a company that was eventually sold to Dutch banking and insurance group ING for 1 while 1,200 of his fellow employees lost their jobs, was said to be intrigued by ScottishJobs.comís offer to host a recruitment event.

Speaking about the forthcoming engagement is ScottishJobs.com managing director Pat Kelly who says: ìMr Leeson will likely keep guests on the edge of their seats while educating them about the pitfalls of poor employment decisions. From the renowned 88888 account where he hid his losses from Barings bosses to the lack of proper employee controls in place that allowed him to bring about the bankís demise, the evening is not one to be missed.î