infamy: the worlds largest trade losses and the losers

While the world loves to watch how great traders continue to amass fortunes, let's take a look at those found their place in infamy by losing fortunes in trading.

The latest to join the list of infamy is a frenchman named Jerome Kerviel. He has been charged in the January 2008 Société Générale trading loss incident, resulting in losses valued at approximately €4.9 billion. ($7.5B)

Others:
1. Nick Leeson: Barings PLC, Britain's oldest investment banking firm, collapsed after one of its Singapore-based securities traders (Nick Leeson) lost more than $1.4 billion by gambling on Tokyo stock prices; http://www.kipnotes.com/Scandal.htm

2. Yasuo Hamanaka : a Japanese national caused a loss of about $2.6 billion, over ten years, in unauthorized copper trading on the London Metal Exchange (wikipedia)

3. John Meriwether an american, lost $4.6 billion trading interest rate and equity derivatives in 1998. He was working for Long Term Capital Management. (wikipedia)

4. Brian Hunter : A canadian, lost $6.5 billion trading gas futures working for Amaranth Advisors in 2006 (wikipedia)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's the big deal with call centers in the Philippines

As I imagine the point of view of a fresh College graduate in the Philippines, call centers do not exactly seem like a prestigious choice for work.  It's really about the salary.  Work is hard, hours are tough and it's hard to call it fulfilling.  But there are hordes of Filipinos signing up and taking home a lot more money than they could before.  Notably, Filipinos turn out to be really good at customer service thanks to our general politeness and fluency in the kind of English Americans use - something that matters since most clients are American.  It turns out there's a practical side to our obsession with American movies, television and music.  We can answer their phones.  While that's not glamorous, it's a humongous part of the Philippines' recent economic renaissance. I'm all for a common sense approach so this may seem like a simplistic analysis. With more than just a mob of young Filipinos getting what is arguably excellent pay for local sta...
Read more

apetitite for stocks still low but bargain hunters are active

The numbers say it all. The world's appetite for equities remains low. The Philippines is no exception. When the PSEi dropped to around the 1600 level, it didn't stay there long. That looks to me like a lot of active bargain hunters trying to cash in on a level that is quite obviously highly oversold. With the world's appetite for stocks at very low levels, the opportunity for bargains is tremendous.
Read more