Rogue Trader (1999) Movie Script
...denied reports that the British
banking system is about to collapse.
According to him, Barings' failure
is a unique situation...
which he blames on the actions
of a rogue trader in Singapore.
Estimates of potential losses
range from 800 million...
to over one billion pounds.
Look at that.
Will you fucking look at that.
- With the black guy?
- Yeah.
It's a shame.
She looks well-spoken for.
Never know your luck,
though, eh, mate?
Think I'll give her
the treatment. Yaah!
No, Steve.
No, don't do that.
Don't do that.
Steve. Steve!
Hello, love.
Got something to show ya.
You out of your mind or what?
You fucking little prick.
- And I mean little.
- Don't judge a book by its cover,
sweetheart.
- You're out of your league, asshole.
- Calm down, mate.
- I'm only speaking to her.
- Fuck off or you're dead!
- I want you out of here. Now.
- He's really sorry, all right?
He's very pissed.
He didn't mean any disrespect.
Dissing's the last thing
on anybody's mind, all right?
Tell him that if he doesn't put
that fucking thing away,
- What? What?
- I'll rip it off with my bare hands...
- and shove it down his fucking throat!
- Ooh!
Do your flies up, you fucking animal.
You almost gave me a heart attack.
Just leave it. It's not worth it.
He's done it again.
I had to pull him off.
Fucking right laugh.
Nick! Nick!
You all right? Nick!
It was thanks to Maggie Thatcher
opening up the city of London...
that yours truly from Watford
came to be working...
for a posh outfit like Barings.
That was me lying on the floor,
if you hadn't guessed.
Nick Leeson.
You've probably heard about me.
Barings was the oldest
private bank in the world.
They financed the Louisiana Purchase
back in eighteen-hundred-and-something.
That's how old they were.
They even had the queen as a customer.
I was just a humble clerk,
but not for long, I hoped.
Car crash.
I hit my head
on the back of the seat...
and broke my nose.
Everybody else was all right 'cause
they were wearing their, uh, seat belts.
Poor chap.
And now, Nick, I know you're keen
to get out of the back office...
and onto the trading floor.
But in the meantime,
something else has come up.
We've got problems
in our Jakarta office.
We need someone to go out there
and sort things out.
I thought that someone
might be Nick Leeson?
Indonesia was one of the new so-called
tiger economies in the Far East...
that everyone was getting
so excited about.
"Emerging markets,"
they were calling them.
And Barings was one of the first
to see their potential.
The rewards were high,
but so were the risks.
One hundred million pounds
in bearer bonds.
As good as cash.
We could pick 'em up, walk right out,
come to some arrangement
with laughing boy here--
The customers refuse to pay for them.
They say the amount on the certificates
doesn't match the original deal.
Real reason-- The market goes down,
they don't want any more.
It's a mess.
You're absolutely,
100 percent right, Susi.
It's one hell of a fucking mess.
By 10:00 Sunday morning,
Ripper had rolled some 20 miles--
It was my job to sort out
all the certificates so the customers...
wouldn't have any more excuses
not to pay.
Until then, Barings was sitting on this
bloody great hole in their balance sheet.
It was boring work,
but I knew if I made a success of it,
then I could write my own ticket.
All the certificates
are in the right denomination.
I've sorted out all the documentation.
That's all in order now.
So, uh, all I need from you...
is a check.
Hello. I'm Lisa.
I'm, uh, Nick Leeson.
Can I help you?
Barings sent me in to help with
the settlements. Didn't they tell you?
Oh, of course. I've been on them for so long
I never thought they'd get around to it.
So, what are we gonna do
with that lot then? Build a bonfire?
I'd never even heard of Barings before
I started working for them.
Its's not like there's
a Barings Bank in Watford.
Well, you're a big hero back in London.
They think the sun shines out your ass.
Really? I was beginning to feel like one
of those Japanese soldiers, you know,
still stuck out in the jungle
20 years after the war.
What's it like here?
They tell me it's not safe
to go out at night.
That's bollocks.
The locals are great.
The best thing about this place is it's
not still full of pompous ex-colonials...
who think they were born
to rule the world.
That's what I love about Asia.
I mean, anyone can make it. It doesn't
matter which stupid school you went to.
When they told me I was going to
Jakarta, I had to look it up on a map.
As a matter of fact, so did I.
What I really want to be is a trader.
Barings don't let me
on the floor after this, then I'm off.
- I'm not gonna be
bloody clerking all my life.
- Ooh. Ambitious, aren't we?
- Is that bad?
- It's great.
I just want to get on in life. I like
to enjoy myself. Don't get me wrong.
Work hard, play hard.
Well, I think this is me.
Well, 'night, Nick.
That was fun.
Yeah, it was, wasn't it?
- Okay, good night.
- See you tomorrow, then.
Lisa was a stunner, all right.
Love at first sight.
Together we made short work
of the rest of those bonds.
Pretty soon we cleared out most of Barings'
losses, and it was time to go home.
- See you later, Lisa.
- Bye.
I think you'll agree that in Nick,
Lisa has met her prince.
- Hear, hear.
- So would you all join me in wishing them well...
in their new life
in Singapore, where...
Nick is to be general manager of
the trading floor, whatever that means.
I mean, it impressed
the hell out of me, but--
And, um, to you, Nick,
I'm entrusting
the most precious of gifts.
I know you're going
to look after her and cherish her...
and all those other things.
And if you don't, I'll break
your bloody legs, all right?
- He means it.
- I love you so much, Lisa Leeson.
I love you too, Nick.
As a reward for my success in Jakarta,
I'd been given Singapore,
a much more important market,
with a brief to set up
my own trading operation.
I was definitely on my way.
- The kitchen.
- This is your department, darling.
Um, since when?
Cheeky.
And the bedroom.
- If you need anything,
all me at my office.
- Right. Thanks.
- Have a nice day.
- Thanks. Bye.
- Whoo!
- Not bad for a chancer from Watford, eh?
Well, I think we should test out
that mattress, big boy.
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah.
I can't see any problem in you
handling both sides of the operation,
- at least until volumes increase.
- Right.
You shouldn't need more than two
to help you on the trading floor,
a couple more in the back office
for settlements.
No need to pay top dollar.
Get them young,
get them hungry and train them up.
- I'm a bottom-line kind of guy, Nick.
- Absolutely.
I mean, that's my philosophy.
I took him
at his word. My team were young,
they were hungry
and they didn't have a clue.
A futures contract is an agreement
to buy or sell a specified amount...
of a commodity at a specified price
at a future date.
Right. Um--
It's like if I agree to sell you
this cup of cappuccino...
which I don't yet own
at 45 cents a month from now.
If I can buy the cappuccino
at, say, 43 cents, I make a profit.
If the price goes the other way,
I have to pay more, and I lose.
It's timing. It's buying and selling
at the right moment.
Sometimes espresso might be
the best deal, or salt, or pepper.
So, we're running a supermarket.
The truth of the matter is, we're not
buying and selling anything real.
It's just numbers-- in our case,
contracts based on the value of the Nikkei,
the Tokyo stock market.
- Uh, we do this for the bank?
- No, no. We do this for the customers.
We're not allowed to trade
on behalf of the bank.
Be sure you remember that, all right?
Other dealers wear red jackets.
All same. Red is lucky Chinese color.
Well, that's the point.
We want to stand out.
We're a new operation.
We need to be noticed.
- May be bad luck. Different color.
- Bollocks. We make our own luck.
Nick's right. We're cool dudes, man.
Whoo!
- Fernando, anything happening in Tokyo?
- Nothing. How's SIMEX?
No, same here. No one's playing.
Five-ninety and trading small.
Six hundred and thin too.
Five-eighty here. There's a seller who wants
to trade in size. Shall I low tick him?
Yeah.
Flush him out.
- Squeeze the sucker.
- How many?
Two hundred.
Buy them... now.
- Buy 'em!
- Filled!
- We paid 580 for 200.
- Way to go, Nick. I sold at 590.
Fuck a duck!
Just made 2,000 quid.
Yes!
They were a good bunch,
and they were keen to learn.
It looked like a madhouse with all
the traders waving and shouting...
like bookies at a racetrack, but it all
made sense once you got the hang of it.
There were some hiccups, of course,
but that's normal in any operation.
Especially a new one like ours.
The important thing was we were
picking up the business,
and the future looked rosy.
Nick what's the difference between
initial margin and variation margin?
Initial margin's like a down payment
on each futures contract that we trade,
and we don't have to pay that in full
until the contract matures.
But in the meantime, the value
of each contract may go up... or down.
So SIMEX calculate our positions
on a daily basis,
and they'll ask us for more money
if the market moves against us.
- And that's variation margin.
- Got it.
I think.
We need to open an errors account.
We've had a few mistakes.
Nothing serious, but I need somewhere
to put them till I can work them out.
Sure. And what number
shall I give it?
- What's your lucky number?
- Eight. Eight is a very lucky
Chinese number.
- And how many numbers do we need?
- Five.
Then let's give it
all the luck it can handle.
Call it the 8-8-8-8-8 account.
And now it gives me great pleasure...
to welcome the chairman
of Barings Bank,
Peter Baring.
We may be the oldest
merchant bank in the world,
but that's no excuse
for not keeping up with the times.
When I became chairman, I realized...
we couldn't go on running Barings
like a gentleman's club.
We had to look beyond...
our traditional recruiting grounds--
the old school tie--
to seek out a new and hungrier breed.
We're beginning to see
the fruits of those efforts,
and I have to say,
the recovery and profitability...
since the reorganization
has been amazing.
To be frank,
I've discovered it's not
actually terribly difficult...
to make money
in the securities business.
Filled!
Yeah, you paid 50 for 20.
Come in.
Simon, uh, I've got a slight problem.
One of the girls sold 20 contracts
for Fuji Bank instead of buying.
Uh, I can't do anything
about it till Monday.
And what's the damage?
Twenty thousand at the close.
Sack the cow.
She'll never work on SIMEX again.
- That's a bit hard, isn't it?
- Look, you handle it.
Have a word with London, but make sure
you make that client good.
All right.
Hey, have a beer, shithead.
Hi, darling.
Anyone seen Kim?
She was here a minute ago.
Kim.
Nick. Nick.
Nick, I'm really sorry.
I got so confused.
Everyone was shouting all at once.
That's the job. That's what
it's all about-- keeping a cool head.
I'm so sorry.
I'll pay you back the money.
Sure, Kim.
Four years' salary?
And if the market moves this weekend,
it could be even worse.
Come on, come on. Come on,
everyone makes mistakes.
Look, with a bit of luck, I can trade
out of it on Monday, all right?
Nick, I've been waiting for you while
everyone else is having a good time.
- I'm going home now.
- Kim!
Kim.
- Everything all right?
- Never better.
Why don't you let me come in and help?
I can't just sit around
on my ass all day doing nothing.
It's not a problem, Lisa.
I can handle it.
Fernando, how are
March futures looking?
- I need to make up 20 contracts
at Friday's price.
- You won't get Friday's price.
I should have closed off the position
first thing Monday and taken a loss.
Instead I waited
for the market to change.
It changed, all right,
but not the way I wanted.
Now I was stuck with a bigger loss
than I could own up to,
and it was all my fault.
Nick, I hear your girl
handed in her notice.
Yeah, never came back.
She couldn't stand the pace.
So much for loyalty.
Did you make the client good?
Of course.
Made a small profit, actually.
Good man.
This one's for the five eights account.
I bought the missing contracts.
- Sixty thousand pounds?
- Shh!
- It was only 20 before.
- The market went the wrong way.
I had to cut the loss.
What did Simon Jones say?
Are you serious?
He'd shut us down if he knew.
Everything will be all right so long as we
balance the books by the end of the month.
- How?
- Well, we trade on our own account...
until we wipe out the losses, and then
we can use money from the client account...
and pay it back
with next month's profits.
You mean, gamble?
Relax, Bonnie.
That's all the market is--
one giant casino.
George!
I was counting on the
fact that nobody looked at the books...
until the end of each month.
As long as the five eights account showed
a nil balance on the last day of the month,
no one would suspect
anything was wrong.
But instead of winning back
the position, we made more losses,
and I had to borrow more money from
the client account to keep them hidden.
Fucking hell, George! What are you
playing at? Get fucking out!
Get fucking out!
Now!
What the hell are you
playing at? Out!
Get out!
It's all right, mate.
Fuckin' hell!
- Aah.
- God, you're so tense.
You're stiff as a bloody board.
If you only knew
what I had to deal with.
All 'cause those bastards
won't let me hire proper staff.
- I thought it was going so well.
- It is. It's going brilliant.
I just spend most of my life
covering everybody else's ass.
Why don't you let me come in
and help out with the back office?
- I'm bored being a lady of leisure.
- No.
Why not? It's ridiculous you have to handle
the trading floor and settlements office.
You could have a nervous breakdown
at this rate.
'Cause I don't want you interfering,
Lisa. I can handle it on my own.
Oh, all right, then. Keep your pants on.
No one's saying you can't.
I'm not going back
to being a bloody clerk.
I'd rather be a plasterer.
My mom always used to say that I
could be anything I wanted to be,
so long as I took my chances
and worked like a dog.
Well, you have, haven't you? You've
worked really hard and it's paid off.
She'd have been so proud of you, Nick.
- Do you really think so?
- Yeah.
I know I am.
That was the worst part--
Lisa thinking I was
this brilliant success.
If she only knew
what a fuckup I really was.
When I wanted the market
to go up, it went down.
If I wanted it to go down, it went up.
It was hard not to take it personally.
Nick. Nick.
I've just worked out the balance
on the eights account.
- The losses are over
ten million dollars.
- Keep your fucking voice down.
Look, there's no need to panic.
There's not enough in the client
account to make margin payments, Nick.
Right.
I need dollars. I need dollars to cover
the initial margin payment.
I can get dollars from London to cover the
client positions on the futures that I buy.
Nothing unusual about that.
But I'm gonna need yen.
Gonna need yen to cover
the daily variation columns...
which'll leave a yen deficit
by the end of the month.
Unless--
Unless I sell options.
That'll generate commission and yen.
And return the balance sheet on
the five eights account to zero.
As long as I could
get London to keep sending out money...
to finance the client positions,
I'd have enough cash to stay on top
of the margin payments.
It was like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
But hopefully I'd end up making enough
money to pay Peter back before he found out.
Meanwhile, I had to generate
more and more business...
to justify my cash calls,
and for that I needed customers.
The bigger the better.
Bon. Tres bien.
Mr. Leeson,
I'm Pierre Beaumarchais.
- Nice to meet you.
- I work for the Geneva Banking
Trust based in the Bahamas.
I was speaking with Ang Swee Tian,
president of SIMEX.
He's very impressed by the amount
of business you've been generating.
- There's a lot of opportunities here.
- Oh, yes.
I do a lot of business on SIMEX.
With the exception of George Sorros,
I probably trade in the Nikkei
more than anyone.
Sometimes over
5,000 contracts in a day.
That is a lot.
The whole market only does about 20.
Could Barings handle
that amount of business?
You bet we could.
Beaumarchais was the answer
to my prayers.
I'd be able to siphon off enough commission
to square the eights account once and for all.
- Hello?
- Pierre Beaumarchais.
I want to buy 4,000 June contracts.
I've got a price of 350 on my screen,
but this'll move it.
Try not to pay more than 400.
We've got to get them cheap.
Beaumarchais is a big player.
If we can pull this off for him,
then we get a shitload of business.
- What's liquidity like?
- Tight as a flea's ass.
We'll get away with 500,
and then the price will move up.
All right. Then we've got to con the
other traders into thinking we're sellers.
And when the price drops, buy.
All right?
Okay.
Two-fifty. Sell 250.
Sell 250.
Sell 240.
Sell 240.
Sell 240.
Sell 240.
Sell 240.
Sell 200.
Sell 200. Two hundred.
Sell 200.
Two hundred.
Sell 200.
- Buy 500 contracts.
- Sell 200.
Buy? Buy?
Buy at 200!
Buy at 200.
Buy at 210.
- Buy at 210. Buy at 200.
- Buy at 200.
- Buy it, buy it! Buy at 200.
- Buy at 220.
- Filled!
- Buy at 230. Buy at 230.
- Buy 240! Buy 240!
- Buy 240!
Buy 250!
Filled.
Nobody saw us coming. We swooped on
the first 1,500 like a Stealth bomber.
- Four thousand contracts.
- Balls of steel, fat boy.
Balls of fucking steel!
At last my luck had changed.
Suddenly I couldn't stop making money.
I was long on the Nikkei. That meant
I was gambling on it going up.
And up it went.
Up and up and up.
If it went up all the way to 19,000,
I stood to make a killing
in all the options I've been selling.
Come on. Come on.
Oh, baby, you can do it. Come on.
Bonnie, we're on a fucking roll!
Yes!
It's amazing.
You've made back all the losses--
over ten million dollars.
What did I tell you,
O ye of little faith.
You keep doubling up,
and sooner or later...
you're bound to win.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei has closed up...
for the third day in a row,
and the rally shows little sign
of running out of steam.
Analysts are predicting
additional gains...
in the days ahead.
- Happy?
- Yeah. You?
Never better.
I have been sailing
a bit close to the wind.
I didn't want to worry you with it.
- What do you mean?
- No, it's all right.
The market turned around, and a whole
load of my positions came good.
I made it all back.
What are you on about, Nick?
Don't get your knickers in a twist,
but we made some mistakes...
and ran up some losses.
I had to go out on a bit of a limb
to get back the position.
Well, how big were the losses?
- It was about a million.
- A million quid?
For God's sake, Nick.
No, it's all right.
Paid off. Squared up.
I had to do it to protect the guys.
Yeah, well, you promise me
that you'll never do that again.
- It's not worth it, Nick.
- I promise.
You will give me a heart attack.
- Merry Christmas.
- Merry Christmas.
Fuck off.
And I really meant it.
I was the number one trader in town.
And as the new year came in,
I was determined to kick...
my addiction to the eights
account once and for all.
What's your opinion of the market,
Nick, long-term?
Long-term? Are you kidding? No one
thinks long-term. They think nanoseconds.
- Long-term's tomorrow morning.
- Okay, tomorrow morning, then.
That would be telling.
- Leeson speaks, the market moves.
- You said it, mate.
- Pierre.
- I want to sell the 220 call options...
and buy the 200 calls in December.
I've got an offer
of.138 for size.
Can you do better?
- I'll get back to you.
- Quick as you can, Nick.
I have to move fast.
What the hell is he on about,
.138 for size?
The market in 220 calls is down.
He wants to cut his losses.
- Yeah, but why.138?
- It's a ratio.
The 200 calls are trading at 1,400.
Divide 200 by 1,400,
you get.143.
All right,
but not.138.
Unless someone's offered him
a discount to get the business.
Probably Societe Generale. We can't let those
wankers get him. Pierre's our biggest client.
- What are you gonna do?
- Just have to leg it.
You mean, buy the contracts from Pierre
and sell them when the market rises, is it?
I thought we were not supposed
to trade for the bank.
Pierre, I can do it.
What's the exact size?
6,500? All right.
Leave it with me. No problem.
What if the market doesn't rise, huh?
What if the market falls?
I've gambled and won before.
I can gamble and win again.
Balls of steel, me old mateys,
and you better believe it.
Bonnie, I need you to reopen
the eights account.
We really got caned on those
Beaumarchais contracts...
and now the bastard's dumped us
and gone back to Societe Generale.
You'd better fax Brenda Granger in London,
ask her for more funds to cover the payments.
Tell her it's for client positions.
- Hello?
- Nick, it's Simon.
Can you come to my office?
- I need to see you right away.
- Christ, I'd been rumbled.
The only surprise was
it had taken so long.
What was I gonna tell Lisa?
She'd bloody murder me.
Come in.
Congratulations, Nick.
The '93 bonuses are in,
and you're down for 135 grand.
1-3-5?
That's fantastic!
Your little operation generated profits
in excess of ten million pounds last year.
You're a star.
In fact, your figures are so high,
they're going to check up on you.
Check up on me?
They're sending Ash Lewis
out for the audit.
Don't worry. It's purely routine.
Ash Lewis?
She's meant to be a right
ball breaker, isn't she?
That's our booth.
Filled, filled.
Paid 250.
Hi, Nick.
This is Ron Baker and Ash Lewis.
Ron is head
of derivatives trading in London.
- Which I guess makes me your boss, Nick.
- Nice to meet you.
- How do you do, Mr. Leeson?
- Very well, thank you.
Okay, let's see the action.
Henry!
So who's doing all the business?
We're the biggest, right?
Well, we do a lot of arbitrage,
so we do have a high volume.
We signal all the orders in to George
in the pit there in front.
This is Henry. And at the end
of the day, the girls in the office,
they log all the deals
onto the computer.
You're the manager
of the trading floor...
and the settlements office,
is that right?
Yes. Henry, you got
a tick in the hundred. Yes, yes.
That's a little unusual.
Whatever happened
to checks and balances?
That's something
we need to talk about.
I'm going to be here for three weeks.
This is going to be...
a thoroughly comprehensive audit.
No stone unturned, as they say.
Absolutely.
Anything I can do to help.
Any stone needs turning,
then you let me know.
Are we filled? Good man, Henry.
Nice to see you, Simon.
Dad's seen this flat in Blackheath
that's a really good investment.
Needs a bit of work, but him
and my granddad can fix it up.
Think of it like an insurance policy
in case you get sacked,
have to go back to England
and work as a plasterer.
Oh, what's up with you, misery guts?
What would you do, Lise? What would
you do if I did get the elbow?
You've just been given
a ruddy great big bonus.
Yeah, but what if it all went wrong? What if
I'm not as clever as everyone thinks I am?
Oh, of course you are.
Anyway, it's you that I love.
I don't give a toss about the money.
If it was up to me, we'd jack it
all in now, go back to England...
and start a family.
You're doing brilliantly, Nick.
You're a bloody star.
Nick?
- Nick.
- Fuck. Simon.
What's happening?
You're looking disgustingly chirpy.
Haven't you heard? Panic over.
Ash has been called back to London.
- You're kidding. Why?
- Office politics.
Some turf battle between Baring Futures
and Baring Securities.
- And what about the audit?
- They're sending Mark Taylor
and Chris Carr.
Compared to Ash,
they're a couple of pussies.
Pity. I was rather
looking forward to seeing...
the dreaded Ash Lewis in action.
Oh, yes!
No, I'm just leaving now.
All right, well, I'm just
gonna go jump in the shower.
- So if you get home first,
will you put the oven on?
- All right, sweetheart.
- I'll see you then.
- Bye, darling.
- Get in, you bastard.
- What the fuck is that?
Sex on wheels.
It's a Porsche, moron. Get in!
I'll tell you what it is.
It's disgusting.
I'll tell you what it is:
It's a great big hard-on.
Got to think of something
to do with my bonus.
Keep your eyes on the road,
you flash git.
That's a fucking
one-way street, George.
Goodness gracious!
Great balls of steel!
Oh, shit!
There's that journalist from Reuters.
- Nick. Nick.
- He's been bugging me
for weeks for an interview.
- Hey, Nick.
- Hi, mate.
- All right, Loy?
- Nick, my man. What'll you have?
Beer, please. You know George Seow,
one of my dealers?
How do you do. This is Danny Argyropoulis,
works for Intercontinental Trading.
- Nice to meet you, Danny.
- Yeah, nice to meet you, mate.
I've heard a lot about you.
I hear Barings have almost cornered
the market over here, thanks to you.
Yeah, well, rumors of my success
are greatly exaggerated.
Don't be so modest.
Do you know what they are calling him?
- What are they calling him?
- King of the exchange.
SIMEX just gave Barings an award for
the amount of business he's generated.
- How you doing? All right?
I'd love a beer.
- Do you want a beer?
And it's called a depth charge.
It's guaranteed to blow
your fucking head off.
- Are you ready?
- Let's do it.
- Well, all right.
- Let's have it.
A-one, a-two, a-three!
Bottoms up.
Hey, pretty women,
what are you waiting for?
Come on!
- Come on!
- Tough shit, George.
For some reason,
your charm's just not working tonight.
Stuck-up bitches.
I bet they're Singapore Air hostesses.
Flight lieutenants, if you don't mind.
- Flight lieutenants.
- What do they want?
Help 'em to decide
if they wanna come in...
or if they don't want to come in.
Let's give 'em a hand and moon 'em.
That should help 'em decide.
Come on, don't be shy.
Your mother wasn't.
I love this man.
- On the count of three?
- It worked before.
- And it'll work again.
- One,
two, three.
- Bottoms up!
- Oh! Oh!
That is disgusting!
Absolutely brilliant, Nick!
Drinks are on me.
Enough depth charges
to sink a battleship.
- Fuck. What time is it?
- I don't know.
- Gotta phone Lisa. Gotta phone her.
- Give her a bell.
- Oh, you've got to be joking.
- No laughing matter.
Outraging a lady's modesty.
Very serious crime in Singapore.
News of my disgrace reached London...
at the highest level.
It's slightly embarrassing,
but one of our traders in Singapore...
got drunk the other night
and pulled a moon.
What did you say?
He exposed his bottom.
- Why?
- Playing silly buggers, I expect.
Unfortunately, the law over there
takes rather a dim view.
Maybe we should sack him.
Sacking him would be awkward,
to say the least.
He generates a significant amount of our
profits in the Southeast Asia division.
I, uh, I ought to mention
we're getting rather a lot of stick...
from the Bank of England
about our funding over there.
Technically, we're in breach of regulations
governing the ratio of lending to capital.
Would you like me to have
a quiet word in their ear?
Oh, we're not quite there yet.
When I spoke to Andy Dixon at the bank,
he said that the matter was, uh,
buried reasonably deep
in his "in" tray.
Just flagging a concern.
Quite right. Something somebody
should keep an eye on.
Well, is that it, then?
Any other business?
Well, what about this chap, Leeson?
He of the exhibitionist tendencies?
Well, I suppose that's probably something we
should leave to the Singapore authorities.
I have to say I'm inclined to agree.
So, it was the profits that saved me.
If they only knew.
Nick, that guy from Reuters again.
It's the second time he's called today.
Tell him I've--
Oh, fuck it.
Give me the phone.
Print me up a balance
on the eights account, will you?
- Hi, Loy. What's shaking?
- Nick. You're a hard man to pin down.
Well, you know how it is.
What can I do you for?
- That's quite a position
you've been buying.
- We're happy.
I don't know which way
the client wants to play it.
Who is this mystery client, Nick?
He must have rather large balls.
I'm sorry, mate.
You know how it is.
Client confidentiality and all that.
Is it Pierre Beaumarchais?
Sorry, Loy.
I gotta go.
I'll speak to you later.
I'll speak to you some other time.
Jesus Christ, Bonnie.
It's 7.78 billion yen.
Do you want the dollar amount?
At a hundred yen to the dollar--
Yeah, yeah,
it's 77.8 million dollars.
Right. I want you to book me
the following national trade.
Selling 1,000 December, 21,500.
Put options at a price of 7-7-7-8.
And then print me a new report
after that entry,
so we show 7.78 billion yen
as if it was owing to us from SIMEX.
Sure, Nick.
And, uh, then fax Brenda Granger
in London asking for more funds.
Tell her we've had a large margin call
on our client positions.
- How much?
- A million.
Make it two.
- Nick.
- Hmm?
Nick, it's the phone.
Hello?
- I'm not disturbing you, am I?
- It's 2:00 a.m.
Oh, Christ. Sorry, mate.
Had no idea.
Listen, the point is,
the old farts are getting nervous.
They want you to unwind
the position a little.
That's easier said than done, Ron.
Don't want to send
the wrong signal to the market.
Yeah, yeah. Second thing is, we need
another two million pounds profit...
by next month to secure our bonuses.
Two million?
Ron, what planet do you live on, mate?
One minute you want me to unwind
the positions, and the next--
Failure is not an option, mate.
We're counting on you.
Now, I'll see you at the junket
in London in three weeks' time.
Two million?
Who do they think I am, George Sorros?
We were coming to the end
of another year,
and I was deeper
in the shit than ever.
Barings wanted me to be one of the speakers
at their annual group conference in London.
I was their star trader, and they all
wanted to know the secrets of my success.
It didn't bear thinking about.
Is Nan staying with Auntie Karen?
Yeah. That's the best place
she could be, actually.
Oh, poor thing.
She's been crying
all the time, has she?
Hello?
Nick, it's for you.
Ron Baker?
Ron. Can't believe
you tracked me down already.
Listen, with this conference
and everything,
you're gonna be away from the trading
floor one hell of a long time.
Well, I had to come back
a week early for this funeral.
I told you, Lisa's granddad
passed away.
Yeah, I'm sorry about that, mate,
but I'm fighting for your bonus here.
You need to keep up those profits.
- I couldn't miss this funeral.
- No one's asking you to.
I'm going to issue you
a security pass...
so you can come in on Sunday
and trade through the night.
With the time difference,
you won't miss a thing.
Get out the fuckin' way!
Well, if he's working this hard,
he's gonna need his food.
He wants me to go into the office
on Sunday night and trade.
Well, no! That's
completely out of order.
Let someone else make
the bloody profits for a change.
She's right, Nick.
You're not a machine.
It's bonus time. If I don't deliver,
then everybody loses out.
Well, it's not fair, Nick.
You carry on at this rate,
you're gonna be in a right old state.
It's gonna be your funeral next.
"For as much as it pleased
almighty God,
of His great mercy,
to take unto Himself the soul...
of our dear brother here departed,
we therefore commit
his body to the ground.
Earth to earth,
ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
Good to see you, son.
Sorry occasion, but there you go.
- He had a good innings.
- That's the main thing.
So how's it going over there?
- Can't complain.
- We're all proud of you, Nick,
what you've achieved.
- It's no big deal.
- Don't be so bloody modest.
You're a plasterer's son.
I just wish your mum
could've been here to see it.
So do I.
I'll try not to let you all down, Dad.
- What did you say?
- It's okay. It's jet lag.
Don't pay any attention to me.
I felt sick going into the office,
seeing all the people
I'd been avoiding for months.
It was one thing
to con people over the phone,
but it was quite another
to do it to their face.
Nick?
It's you, isn't it?
Nick Leeson?
I heard you were coming in.
- You haven't the vaguest idea
who I am, have you?
- Brenda?
- Mm-hmm.
- Of course. I'm sorry. How are you?
So I finally get
to put a face to the voice.
My God, you are so young.
Well, aging rapidly, I'm afraid.
Look, Nick, why don't you
come into my office?
I really do need
to talk to you about the figures.
Brenda, I have a meeting
with Peter Norris in three minutes.
Oh, well, do come in
right after, okay?
Nobody out there can give us answers
to our questions but you.
And they just asked
for another ton of funding.
- All right. This one?
- Yeah.
- All right.
- Bye.
Brenda was my cash lifeline.
She was the last person I wanted
asking awkward questions.
- I wanted you to meet Nick--
- But first, I had to deal with Peter Norris.
He's such a red-hot trader,
I've arranged for him...
- to come in overnight
and keep trading the Nikkei.
- Are you really?
You can't keep Nick away from the floor.
He's the key man in Singapore.
- Sounds like you're the key man in Asia.
- He's an animal. He's insane.
- You should see the way
he takes that market on.
- Are you enjoying yourself?
- Yes, it's all right.
- "All right"?
Now, we need to talk about...
merging the sales areas in Asia.
Nick has some views. If we can replicate
his success in Hong Kong and Tokyo--
What do you think, Nick?
It does make a lot of sense to merge.
Um, there would need
to be controls, of course.
But the trading books can be used
in such a way as to supplement...
the customer's requirements
and increase information flows...
synergetically.
Exactly, synergy.
So you see, Peter, Nick agrees.
And he's been very successful
with his customers.
They love him.
Yes. Excellent.
Well, keep up the good work.
Ron, you sort out what you want
with this merger.
Now, gentlemen, I really have to--
- Good to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Cheers.
- See you later.
I think that went well, don't you?
He seemed to go for the merger idea.
Oh, he did, Ron.
He really went for it.
Hey, this'll be good for you too.
They'll give you some kind
of fancy new title.
Could you hold on a second?
Uh, Nick?
Nick?
Ron?
Being good is not good enough.
Everyone must be connected
to our strategy,
or we will find you and weed you out.
Information arbitrage is our business.
If you don't know what
an information curve is, then find out.
Position yourself
in an information curve.
Dominate the curve.
Nick Leeson,
who most of you know
and all of you have heard of,
runs our operation in Singapore,
which I want all of you
to try to emulate.
Now, you'll hear later from Nick
about how he does it,
but I just want
to drive home to you guys...
that if you could all
think about Nick...
and perhaps come up with ideas
to follow his footsteps,
Barings will become one of the most
successful operations...
in the derivatives business.
Oh, fuck!
Oh, we are going to make
so much money.
But more to the point,
you are going to make...
so... much... money.
Oh. Nick.
- Nick, wake up.
- Lisa.
- We're meant to be going to the dinner.
- I can't.
I can't face it.
I can't take it anymore.
I'm not going back after Christmas.
You can't make me.
What are you going on about? You're sitting
next to Peter Norris in the seat of honor.
Oh, don't tell me you missed
your presentation too?
- I've been drinking.
- No, I never would have guessed.
It's downright rude.
They were expecting you.
- You can't let everybody down like that.
- You don't understand, Lisa.
I'm sitting on a fucking volcano.
I can't go back.
And what about your bonus?
Now, stop babbling
and get yourself dressed.
- I'll give you volcano,
Nick Leeson, right up your bum.
- Lisa! Lisa-- oi!
- In you go. You stink.
- I don't need a sh-- Lisa!
Oh, Lisa.
You bitch.
- I'm going to kill you now.
- Oh, look at you.
What a disgusting sight.
Look at you.
Oh, no, you're going to
get me all wet! Nick!
- Nick?
- Mm-hmm?
You go get dressed.
Stop.
You go get dressed!
Promise me
you'll always love me, Lisa.
Whatever happens,
you'll always love me.
Oh, of course I will.
You're my man, aren't you?
It was crazy going back.
I couldn't hope to survive
the end-of-the-year audit.
There was that little matter
of the 7.78 billion yen...
which I'd fabricated to plug the hole
in the five eights account.
I should have told Lisa
when I had the chance,
but there was this voice
that kept telling me,
"I traded out of my losses before,
I could trade out of them again."
What's this letter all about?
Well, it's from SIMEX.
Yes, I know it's from SIMEX.
It came while you were away.
"It appears that your company
has financed the trading positions...
held by subaccount 8-8-8-8-8.
If this is the case,
you have violated SIMEX rule 8-2-2...
which prohibits members
from financing...
the trading margins
of their customers."
They're just banging on about
our intraday funding limits.
Well, what is subaccount
8-8-8-8-8 anyway?
It's a customer account.
We have umpteen trading accounts,
so I'd have to look into it.
We're the number-one trader in town, and
they're trying to tie us up in red tape.
Anyone would think
they didn't want us to trade.
Uh, I'll draft an answer for you.
Yeah, do that, will you?
Get it on my desk by the morning.
Of course, Simon.
Lisa?
Lisa?
Lisa, what are you doing?
I'm bleeding, Nick.
Why didn't you tell me?
'Cause I was waiting till I was sure.
- You're not angry with me, are you?
- I'm not angry with you.
Of course I'm not angry
with you, my love.
- You want the baby, don't you, Nick?
- I really want the baby.
I want lots and lots of babies.
- Right?
- Yeah.
Your wife is okay.
I'm afraid she's lost her baby.
I'm sorry.
That was the turning point.
That was when I decided
I couldn't stand around any longer,
hoping the market
would move in my favor.
I was going to have to make it move.
I didn't care how much money it took.
I was going to go for broke.
The man is single-handedly
generating a fifth...
of the group's
worldwide operating profits.
I know, Ron. But 30 million dollars
in margin payments?
- For one-day's trading?
- No, you don't seem to understand.
The volumes are enormous. Nick's guy
is the biggest player on SIMEX.
- Hello?
- Nick, it's Brenda.
Listen, buddy,
this is putting a terrible strain
on our borrowing.
Tony Hawes is all over me
about your cash calls.
Yeah, I hear you, Brenda. But London
is the cash cow for the business here.
We just don't have access
to any other funds.
I mean, frankly,
if you keep hassling me like this,
I've got a good mind
just to stop trading.
No, no, no, no, Nick, it's okay.
Just get back to me
with some meaningful figures, okay?
Fuck off.
Hello?
Nick, thank goodness I've caught you.
Listen, I know Brenda's been giving you
a hard time.
I don't think any of you seem
to understand how it works out here.
Yeah, you might be right about
that, mate. Consider it sorted.
But you are going to have to
start reducing these positions.
Well, Ron,
I'll see what I can do, all right?
Oh, and while I've got you,
about your bonus--
the budget's tight, and although
you've been exceptional,
there's not much to go 'round.
I thought we had a record year!
Yeah. Having said all that,
I've put in a special plea to Peter,
and he's agreed to go up to 350.
350? That's ridiculous.
I'm really pushing out the boat for you.
I'm making an exception.
Listen, I'm busting my balls here.
I made us the top house in SIMEX.
We even got that award
for the amount of business we're doing.
Yeah, I know that, Nick.
Look, I'll see what I can do.
I'll see if it can't start
with a four, eh?
It was their opening offer.
They would've thought something
was wrong if I'd accepted straightaway.
Yeah, it's like winning the lottery.
They must think the world of you.
What's the matter, Lisa?
What do you think's
the bloody matter, Nick?
Everything's changed.
I just want to go home. I want to
get the hell out of here and go home.
But you wanted to come back.
What about the bonus?
Why can't you get the bonus in London?
Please, Nick,
I want to go on with my life.
- I want to start a family.
I'm going stir-crazy here on my own.
- All right.
Calm down. Look, I just need
a little bit more time...
to sort things out,
turn things around.
No! You're up at dawn, then you come
back at night, you collapse into bed.
How am I meant to get pregnant again
if we never make love?
I know. But this could
set us up for life.
- When's bonus day?
- Twenty-fourth of February.
Just five weeks to go.
Right. We're going to leave
on the 25th.
I mean it. I'm calling
the furniture movers tomorrow.
All right.
All right.
With everything else closing in on me,
I'd forgotten all about
the mooning charge.
When it finally came to court,
I was facing a possible jail sentence.
The charge has been reduced
to a misdemeanor.
The maximum penalty is a $200 fine.
- I think we should plead guilty.
- Thank you very much.
It was uncanny.
I'd got away with it again.
To the Singapore legal system.
- A shining example to the free world.
- Oh, yeah.
We bared our all for Barings.
Bearer bonds takes on
a whole new meaning after this.
Talk about a "bare" market.
Hello, Mooners Anonymous.
This is Wei Wei
from Coopers and Lybrand.
- Is that Nick?
- Speaking.
I'm compiling the end-of-year audit,
and there seems to be
a big hole in the accounts.
I'm missing this 7.78 billion yen,
receivable from SIMEX.
Nick? Can you hear me?
Is everything all right?
It's a little bit complicated.
What do you need?
I can't find any paperwork.
It was an over-the-counter trade between
Speer, Leads and Kellagg and Barings, London.
It fell through the computer system.
I'll have a word with the systems
manager. I'll get something to you.
I need three bits of paper.
One: confirmation from S.L.K...
that the 7.78 billion yen
will be paid.
Two: sight of your bank balance
to show it's been received.
And three: a note
from Ron Baker...
saying he's aware of the deal
and approves it.
- Well?
- Oh, it's nothing.
Just a computer glitch.
They're doing their annual audit.
And so with scissors and paste,
I created 78 million dollars
out of thin air.
This was forgery, pure and simple,
and there was no going back.
- Nick.
- Simon.
Jesus, you almost gave me
a heart attack.
- What's this missing seven billion yen?
- Oh, that's a nightmare.
Um, it's an O.T.C. trade from last
month that was incorrectly booked.
The auditors are really
on my case about it.
It's a pain in the bloody ass,
but we've got to get it sorted.
- The point is,
we're owed the money by S.L.K.
- Who the hell are S.L.K.?
Speer, Leads and Kellagg.
It's a brokerage house.
Better send me a memo soon as.
Get these auditors off my back.
Sure, Simon.
Don't worry, I'm onto it.
Bonnie, it's Nick.
Listen.
Listen very carefully.
I want you to transfer
7.78 billion yen...
from the client account into
the house account first thing tomorrow.
But it won't go.
There isn't enough money.
Yeah, I know that. But you can
reverse it immediately after.
It's just an electronic transaction.
I want the transfer done,
and I want the bank to send us a fax
of the statement...
showing the 7.78 billion yen
credit, all right?
- All right, Nick. If you say so.
- All right. Cheers, Bonnie.
Nick?
What's all this
about seven billion yen?
Just had someone on the phone from
London called Tony Hawes looking for you.
Jesus Christ, if I hear any more
about this seven billion yen--
It's about 70 million dollars,
isn't it?
What do you reckon?
Red or blue?
What, and you think I just walked off
with 70 million dollars?
- No, I didn't say that.
- It's a computer error.
Well, you need someone
to help in the back office.
That's what I've been telling you.
You're not bloomin' Superman.
- Don't start all that again.
- It wouldn't have happened
if I'd have been there.
Right. I'm going out.
- Where are you going?
- To get pissed.
And if anyone calls,
tell 'em I've gone to South America.
Oh, well, you can
bloody stay there, then!
Twat!
What have you done now, Leeson?
What have you done now?
Come in.
I thought you'd like to know
the audit's been cleared.
Nick got them the paperwork.
Everybody's happy.
Thanks, Ron.
Technically, we're in breach
of SIMEX regulations,
but basically,
it was just a nontransaction.
With any luck, the auditors won't
mention it in the official report,
or we could have problems
with the local regulator.
Sounds sensible.
Do you know... Nick made ten million
dollars doing arbitrage in a week?
That's about...
half a billion dollars a year.
The guy's a turbo-arbitrager.
Well, frankly, if he's doing that amount
of business for that amount of profit,
I don't know why we don't shut down
the rest of the bank.
- We're just overhead.
- Yeah.
- Hello?
- Nick.
Have you been avoiding me?
I've been trying to reach you for days.
Sorry, Tony.
It's been chaos here.
The audit went through.
I thought you knew.
It's this S.L.K. thing.
- It's all been cleared up.
- I know.
What's bothering me is where
you got all the money to actually,
well, pay S.L.K.
in the first place.
I mean, it's the equivalent
of 78 million dollars.
It doesn't add up, you know.
It's obvious, Tony.
It's part of the funding...
that we've had from you
over the past few weeks.
- Yes.
- So, the same figure
will flow back to you.
I see. You're saying that some
of the funding was used to pay S.L.K.?
That's right, Tony.
So we'll be able to pay it back to you.
Oh, that'll be good. Uh, getting
our funding down will be good.
I'm having to juggle
quite a few balls at the moment.
Yeah, we all are, believe me.
Look, I'm sorry.
I've got to dash.
I've got company for dinner.
Uh, yes, of course. Well, thanks, Nick.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Yes, Ron.
What do you want?
It's me, you wanker, Danny.
Bubble? What are you doing calling me
in the middle of the night?
Are you anywhere near a TV?
I suggest you tune in to CNN.
The worst damage
was in the seaport of Kobe.
Road and rail links are shattered,
- buildings have collapsed
and fires are burning.
- Jesus, an earthquake.
That's all we fucking need.
This is going to kill the market, man.
- The Nikkei is going to fall
through the fucking floor.
- There are thousands of people...
milling around in search of help.
Rescue operations are going to be
complicated, long and expensive.
Mike Chanoi, CNN,
reporting live from Tokyo.
Market's down 300 points, you stand
there cool as a fucking cucumber.
The way I see it, Bubble,
it's an opportunity.
I'm going to buy into the market.
You watch.
Buy it all the way back up
to 19,000. Oi!
Fucking true what they say
about your gonads, mate.
See what I mean?
I think I'll give Fernando
a bell in Tokyo, see what's shaking.
No pun intended.
Fernando, it's Nick.
What's the situation in Kobe?
We've been trying to contact our
friends, but the lines are down.
Hold it a sec.
We've got movement.
Holy shit! Selling!
There's some selling!
Fucking hell, it's a free fall.
I've never seen it move so fast.
Three hundred and fifty! Three
hundred and fifty! Three hundred and fifty!
Nick?
Sure you don't want us to stay?
No, I'm fine. You go.
You'll make it right, Nick.
We all believe in you.
Fifty million.
I, Nicholas Leeson,
have lost 50 million quid...
in one day!
What does he do, exactly? That's what
no one seems able to explain.
It's simple, Tony. He switches
contracts between Osaka and SIMEX,
exploiting price differentials
between the two markets.
That's how he offers
the best deals to our customers.
If it's that easy,
why isn't everybody doing it?
Because he's absolutely in the center,
in the vortex, of the information curve
over there.
He's discovered a whole new way
of making money.
Well, he's giving us horrendous
funding problems, that's all I know.
He doesn't do things by the book, Ron.
He doesn't respect the rules.
Is he really the kind of person
we should be employing at Barings?
Oh, fuck the rules, Tony.
It's barrow boys like Nick who are
turning the city of London around.
You can't run a modern financial center
with a bunch of Hooray Henries.
Bastard.
Wakey, wakey.
- What's the action, mate?
- You tell me.
The market is up and down,
up and down like a tart's knickers.
- I think the worst of it's over.
- Who knows? You could be right.
Well, that's my hunch, anyway.
Listen, I was out last night
with that Loy--
you know, that journo from Reuters.
Now, he's convinced there's no
mystery customer. He reckons it's you.
He thinks you're trading
on your own account...
without the bank's approval.
Now, you're not that crazy, are you?
What do you think?
Well, who, then?
Beaumarchais?
- I thought he'd given you the elbow.
- I can't tell you.
Come on.
It's me, Danny boy.
I could tell you, but I'd have to
shoot you afterwards.
I know one thing.
If customer "X" didn't exist,
you'd have to invent him.
Forty-five million?
You've already had a hundred this week.
Everybody's
had an advance margin call...
from SIMEX on their client positions.
They're worried about market stability
with these big movements.
- It's an emergency measure?
- Right.
Isn't everybody squealing out there?
No, we get it back
when the market calms down.
Nick, for the umpteenth time, when are
you going to reduce these positions?
- The bean counters are freaking out.
- Didn't know you were there.
For fuck's sake, we've had the Bank of
International Settlements in Basle...
asking if Barings can meet
its margin payments.
It is not good for the image.
I hear you, Ron.
It's a tight market.
Yeah, well, you've really got to try.
Take a hit on it if you have to.
I know Norris is going to want to discuss
it with you when he's out there next week.
Norris?
I didn't know he was coming.
Yeah, with Tony Hawes.
They want to check on these numbers,
iron out these funding problems
once and for all.
There was no way
I could reduce my positions...
without the market collapsing.
By the time they got to Singapore
I was in deeper than ever,
faxing Brenda on a daily basis...
30, 40 million dollars at a time.
They were going to kill me.
Looking like shit, Nick.
Looking like fucking shit, mate.
- Good evening, sir.
- Good evening.
- Nick, there you are.
- I'm sorry I'm a little bit late.
- Hello. Good to see you.
- Nick.
- What'll you have?
- Oh, a beer would be great, thanks.
Another Tiger, please.
Nick.
- How was the market today?
- Staying between 18 and 18.3,
drifting a little bit.
Seems to have settled
after the earthquake.
And the positions you're running,
you're happy with them?
I'm relaxed. They're mainly March
contracts, so I'll let them expire.
- Good.
- Thanks.
Thank you.
Now, we've had a lot of stick...
over funding.
Brenda Granger tells me we're borrowing
all over Japan to get the funds to you.
People are beginning to talk.
I understand.
I understand completely.
Excellent.
Good man.
And that was it.
That was apparently all he had to say on
the subject of my enormous exposure...
that was causing so many ulcers
throughout the Barings' empire.
Better than you can get
in London, that's for sure.
You'll enjoy the next course.
- Lobster, sir?
- No, thanks. I'm not very hungry.
I should have
been able to relax after that,
but I couldn't stop thinking about
the losses in the five eights account.
It's a shame you can't stay
for the match on Saturday.
You're down for 450, aren't you?
Your bonus?
Only a week to go.
Sorry?
Have you thought about
what you're going to do with it?
Only a week to go.
Excuse me.
I have an announcement to make.
I know that some of you...
are worried about our exposure
in the market,
and, um, you're probably wondering
about the identity...
of our mystery customer "X."
Well, the fact is, he doesn't exist.
We're the customer-- Barings.
And if you look properly
at the five eights account--
which is not a client account,
it's an errors account--
you'll realize that
it's concealing losses...
in the region
of 200 hundred million pounds.
No, I tell a lie. It's more like
230 after today.
Only a week to go.
What are you going to do
with all that money, Nick?
Well, I'm not going to spend it
on futures and options.
- That was very good.
- Very good.
I was living
from day to day, hoping for a miracle.
I wasn't running the position anymore,
the position was running me.
Man, look at the state you're in.
You've got the bloody shakes.
- You been on the razz all night?
- No.
- I'm just getting killed by the market.
- Tell me about it.
I've had a shitty week too.
Penguin?
You lucky sod.
- Do you know how rare they are?
- Do you know?
- Well, it ain't that bloody funny.
- Lucky Leeson.
You have it.
I'm not laughing at you, Bubble.
Fuck. Sorry.
You really are in a bad way, ain't ya?
What's the matter?
I have an unauthorized position.
Fucking hell.
How big?
Big enough to be a problem.
Poor bastard.
I can't say it comes
as a complete surprise. Does Lisa know?
No, she'd kill me.
She's got enough
on her plate at the moment.
She's just waiting for bonus day
so we can go home.
So what are you going to do?
Well, I just have to
keep buying futures...
like they're going out of style
to support the market.
If it sticks around 18,000,
then my options are still in the money,
and I could get the position back.
- I may even come out ahead.
- Nick.
You listen to me now, right?
Listen to me.
You don't fight the market, man.
Even if you can make the margin calls,
what happens when the contracts expire?
Eh? The way the market's going at the
moment, your losses could be catastrophic.
Five for a thousand!
Five for a thousand! Come on!
Come on, George!
Move this fucking market!
If it stays below 18,000, we're dead!
Come on!
Nick.
- Nick?
- Tony.
Nick, I really need to go over
some of the figures with you.
Sure, Tony.
I'll be back in a minute.
It's falling, Nick.
- It's dropping like a stone.
- Come on!
I'm sorry! Money!
I'd thrown away countless more millions,
and it hadn't made a dent.
I was only one day from bonus day,
but the game was up.
I was beaten.
Oh, Nick,
you're a bloody fool, aren't you?
Well, it's not the end of the world.
You've got your health, you've got me.
Shame about the bonus.
Sorry.
Get ready to slow down.
The video shop's on the next left.
- I want to go and get our deposit back.
- All right.
We're going to need it, darling.
- Hello?
- For Christ's sake.
The positions have got bigger.
If they aren't reduced,
I'm coming out there personally
to sort you out.
- You're very faint, Ron.
- And what's this rumor I'm hearing?
There's a rumor
that we're the customer.
I'm sorry, Ron,
you're going to have to speak up.
Tell me we're not the customer, Nick.
- I'm losing you, Ron.
- Nick-- Nick, are you there?
Good-bye, Ron.
They wouldn't give me the full 200,
but I stood my ground and got 180.
Good girl.
Nick?
Excuse me, sir.
There's a phone call for you.
- Not now.
- It's Peter Norris.
He said it's urgent.
Oh. Thank you.
If you'll excuse me.
Peter?
I'm sorry to drag you away
from your dinner party.
I'm afraid I've got
some rather bad news.
By the time the shit
hit the proverbial fan in London,
we'd escaped from Singapore to ponder
the future and consider my options,
if I had any.
What's going to happen, Nick?
Well, they must've got my fax and
closed down all the positions on Friday.
The market seems
to be holding up okay.
But you're definitely out of a job?
It could have been a lot worse,
but I still lost them a ton of money.
I'm starving.
Do you think they do burgers here?
No, you're not having a burger.
- That tummy of yours is driving me nuts.
- Don't stress me, wench.
I'll work it off in the gym.
Better still--
- Stop it. People are watching.
- So? I don't care. Come here, girl.
Jesus Christ, Lisa.
Barings has gone bust.
What?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Kenneth Clarke,
is trying to calm fears sparked
by the failure of Barings Bank.
In a statement to Parliament,
he denied reports...
that the British banking system
is about to collapse.
According to him, Barings' failure
is a unique situation...
which he blames on the actions
of a rogue trader in Singapore.
Estimates of potential losses
range from 800 million...
to over one billion pounds.
There's no way of knowing how markets
will react when they reopen on Monday.
And while the Bank of England tries
to put together a rescue package--
with the Sultan of Brunei
rumored as a possible buyer--
time may be running out for one of Britain's
most venerable financial institutions.
- Charles Samson, CNN, London.
- Fuck.
Oh, Nick.
How could you not tell me?
How could you have kept it hidden
for all this time, Nick?
God, you must have been through hell.
- You would have marched me
into Simon Jones' office.
- Yeah, bloody right I would.
Then I would've gotten fired, and I wouldn't
have had a chance to make the money back.
- That's what I was going to do.
- No, you were gambling.
That's what you were doing
with other people's money.
I didn't want to let everyone down--
you, my dad,
the girls in the office,
even Ron bloody Baker.
Do you think they're all
going to hate me now?
Well, I don't think you're
going to be Mr. Popular.
It could easily have been
the other way, you know.
It so nearly was.
And then I'd be a hero.
Oh. Come here.
Come here.
I still love ya. Hmm?
- I love you very much.
- I love you too.
Shall we see if we can do something
about that belly?
I see.
Yes, I understand.
No, of course.
Well, thank you again
for your efforts. Good-bye.
That was the Sultan
of Brunei's office.
They have decided not to proceed.
They believe the risks are too great
and the time too short,
in view of the need
to have a rescue package in place...
by the time the markets
open again in the Far East.
Is there really no one else?
We've tried everyone.
It's hopeless.
I therefore have to inform you
that Barings is insolvent...
and will go into immediate liquidation.
Peter Barings has gone on TV
and said there's been a conspiracy.
They've lost 800 million quid!
My losses were nowhere near that.
It was more like 300.
I know, but Barings
didn't do anything Friday.
- So now the word's out,
and the market's crashed.
- Bloody idiots!
- Listen, they think you've done
a runner on your yacht.
- What?
I know.
But listen, mate,
you've got no friends here now,
so just get the fuck out of Asia.
Get back to London, Australia,
anywhere. Just get the fuck out.
- Yeah, we're trying.
- Oh, and, Nick,
get yourself a good lawyer.
- Be lucky.
- Cheers, mate.
Flight 187
to Hong Kong leaving from gate two.
Oh, fuck.
Fuck.
It's crazy.
There's a manhunt all over Asia.
They think we're sailing
around Indonesia in our yacht.
- What bloody yacht?
- I know. It's crazy.
What about the flights?
- There's one to London
that goes via Singapore.
- That's no good.
Well, there's a flight to Frankfurt,
goes via Abu Dhabi.
Let's take it.
And Lisa, pay cash.
Malaysian
Airlines, flight 7682 to Frankfurt...
is now ready for boarding.
Passengers, please proceed
to the departure hall.
Thank you.
- Newspaper, sir?
- Uh, no, thank you.
- Ma'am?
- Um, no, thanks.
Welcome to our flight
to Frankfurt, Germany via Abu Dhabi.
- We shall be cruising at a height--
- Nick, take that thing off.
- There's a guy over there looking at me.
- Yeah?
I'm not surprised
with that bloody hat on.
Talk about conspicuous. You're
sticking out like a sore bloody thumb.
We would like to remind passengers
that smoking--
Did you say we stop at Abu Dhabi?
Yeah.
Lisa, that's where
they cut your hands off.
Oh, don't be ridiculous.
They just stone you.
What?
I'm sorry, but you've got to laugh.
Poor old Barings, eh?
That's what you get for hiring
the wrong sort of person.
That was when it hit me--
the enormity of what I'd done.
Whatever happened, I knew things
were never going to be the same again.
And I never felt lonelier
in all my life.
I love you, Lisa.
Whatever happens, I love you.
I love you too.
I've got to get back to London.
I couldn't stand it
if I was in jail in Singapore.
I couldn't stand it
if I couldn't see you.
Jesus Christ, it's the police.
They must know I'm on the flight.
Well, no, not necessarily.
Due to the early arrival of the flight,
passport control will take place
as you leave the plane.
Please have your documents ready.
See?
I'm scared, Lisa.
You be strong, okay?
Danke.
Pass, bitte.
Danke.
Thank you. Danke.
Please show your passport.
Where is your man?
I'm her man.
Twenty on five! Twenty on five!
Twenty on five!
250 bid on a hundred!
250 bid on a hundred! Come on!
Who wants some of that?
250 bid on a hundred!
250 bid on a hundred!
Come on!
And that's it, more or less.
That's the end of my story.
Barings was eventually sold
to the Dutch bank I.N.G...
for the princely sum of one pound.
Lisa's got a new life working as
a flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic.
I hear she's got herself a new fella.
As for me, I fought unsuccessfully
against extradition...
from Frankfurt to Singapore on charges
of fraud, forgery and breach of trust.
I was sentenced
to six and a half years in prison.
Despite rumors of secret bank accounts
and hidden millions,
I did not profit personally
from my unlawful trading.
To be absolutely honest,
sometimes I wish I had.
banking system is about to collapse.
According to him, Barings' failure
is a unique situation...
which he blames on the actions
of a rogue trader in Singapore.
Estimates of potential losses
range from 800 million...
to over one billion pounds.
Look at that.
Will you fucking look at that.
- With the black guy?
- Yeah.
It's a shame.
She looks well-spoken for.
Never know your luck,
though, eh, mate?
Think I'll give her
the treatment. Yaah!
No, Steve.
No, don't do that.
Don't do that.
Steve. Steve!
Hello, love.
Got something to show ya.
You out of your mind or what?
You fucking little prick.
- And I mean little.
- Don't judge a book by its cover,
sweetheart.
- You're out of your league, asshole.
- Calm down, mate.
- I'm only speaking to her.
- Fuck off or you're dead!
- I want you out of here. Now.
- He's really sorry, all right?
He's very pissed.
He didn't mean any disrespect.
Dissing's the last thing
on anybody's mind, all right?
Tell him that if he doesn't put
that fucking thing away,
- What? What?
- I'll rip it off with my bare hands...
- and shove it down his fucking throat!
- Ooh!
Do your flies up, you fucking animal.
You almost gave me a heart attack.
Just leave it. It's not worth it.
He's done it again.
I had to pull him off.
Fucking right laugh.
Nick! Nick!
You all right? Nick!
It was thanks to Maggie Thatcher
opening up the city of London...
that yours truly from Watford
came to be working...
for a posh outfit like Barings.
That was me lying on the floor,
if you hadn't guessed.
Nick Leeson.
You've probably heard about me.
Barings was the oldest
private bank in the world.
They financed the Louisiana Purchase
back in eighteen-hundred-and-something.
That's how old they were.
They even had the queen as a customer.
I was just a humble clerk,
but not for long, I hoped.
Car crash.
I hit my head
on the back of the seat...
and broke my nose.
Everybody else was all right 'cause
they were wearing their, uh, seat belts.
Poor chap.
And now, Nick, I know you're keen
to get out of the back office...
and onto the trading floor.
But in the meantime,
something else has come up.
We've got problems
in our Jakarta office.
We need someone to go out there
and sort things out.
I thought that someone
might be Nick Leeson?
Indonesia was one of the new so-called
tiger economies in the Far East...
that everyone was getting
so excited about.
"Emerging markets,"
they were calling them.
And Barings was one of the first
to see their potential.
The rewards were high,
but so were the risks.
One hundred million pounds
in bearer bonds.
As good as cash.
We could pick 'em up, walk right out,
come to some arrangement
with laughing boy here--
The customers refuse to pay for them.
They say the amount on the certificates
doesn't match the original deal.
Real reason-- The market goes down,
they don't want any more.
It's a mess.
You're absolutely,
100 percent right, Susi.
It's one hell of a fucking mess.
By 10:00 Sunday morning,
Ripper had rolled some 20 miles--
It was my job to sort out
all the certificates so the customers...
wouldn't have any more excuses
not to pay.
Until then, Barings was sitting on this
bloody great hole in their balance sheet.
It was boring work,
but I knew if I made a success of it,
then I could write my own ticket.
All the certificates
are in the right denomination.
I've sorted out all the documentation.
That's all in order now.
So, uh, all I need from you...
is a check.
Hello. I'm Lisa.
I'm, uh, Nick Leeson.
Can I help you?
Barings sent me in to help with
the settlements. Didn't they tell you?
Oh, of course. I've been on them for so long
I never thought they'd get around to it.
So, what are we gonna do
with that lot then? Build a bonfire?
I'd never even heard of Barings before
I started working for them.
Its's not like there's
a Barings Bank in Watford.
Well, you're a big hero back in London.
They think the sun shines out your ass.
Really? I was beginning to feel like one
of those Japanese soldiers, you know,
still stuck out in the jungle
20 years after the war.
What's it like here?
They tell me it's not safe
to go out at night.
That's bollocks.
The locals are great.
The best thing about this place is it's
not still full of pompous ex-colonials...
who think they were born
to rule the world.
That's what I love about Asia.
I mean, anyone can make it. It doesn't
matter which stupid school you went to.
When they told me I was going to
Jakarta, I had to look it up on a map.
As a matter of fact, so did I.
What I really want to be is a trader.
Barings don't let me
on the floor after this, then I'm off.
- I'm not gonna be
bloody clerking all my life.
- Ooh. Ambitious, aren't we?
- Is that bad?
- It's great.
I just want to get on in life. I like
to enjoy myself. Don't get me wrong.
Work hard, play hard.
Well, I think this is me.
Well, 'night, Nick.
That was fun.
Yeah, it was, wasn't it?
- Okay, good night.
- See you tomorrow, then.
Lisa was a stunner, all right.
Love at first sight.
Together we made short work
of the rest of those bonds.
Pretty soon we cleared out most of Barings'
losses, and it was time to go home.
- See you later, Lisa.
- Bye.
I think you'll agree that in Nick,
Lisa has met her prince.
- Hear, hear.
- So would you all join me in wishing them well...
in their new life
in Singapore, where...
Nick is to be general manager of
the trading floor, whatever that means.
I mean, it impressed
the hell out of me, but--
And, um, to you, Nick,
I'm entrusting
the most precious of gifts.
I know you're going
to look after her and cherish her...
and all those other things.
And if you don't, I'll break
your bloody legs, all right?
- He means it.
- I love you so much, Lisa Leeson.
I love you too, Nick.
As a reward for my success in Jakarta,
I'd been given Singapore,
a much more important market,
with a brief to set up
my own trading operation.
I was definitely on my way.
- The kitchen.
- This is your department, darling.
Um, since when?
Cheeky.
And the bedroom.
- If you need anything,
all me at my office.
- Right. Thanks.
- Have a nice day.
- Thanks. Bye.
- Whoo!
- Not bad for a chancer from Watford, eh?
Well, I think we should test out
that mattress, big boy.
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah.
I can't see any problem in you
handling both sides of the operation,
- at least until volumes increase.
- Right.
You shouldn't need more than two
to help you on the trading floor,
a couple more in the back office
for settlements.
No need to pay top dollar.
Get them young,
get them hungry and train them up.
- I'm a bottom-line kind of guy, Nick.
- Absolutely.
I mean, that's my philosophy.
I took him
at his word. My team were young,
they were hungry
and they didn't have a clue.
A futures contract is an agreement
to buy or sell a specified amount...
of a commodity at a specified price
at a future date.
Right. Um--
It's like if I agree to sell you
this cup of cappuccino...
which I don't yet own
at 45 cents a month from now.
If I can buy the cappuccino
at, say, 43 cents, I make a profit.
If the price goes the other way,
I have to pay more, and I lose.
It's timing. It's buying and selling
at the right moment.
Sometimes espresso might be
the best deal, or salt, or pepper.
So, we're running a supermarket.
The truth of the matter is, we're not
buying and selling anything real.
It's just numbers-- in our case,
contracts based on the value of the Nikkei,
the Tokyo stock market.
- Uh, we do this for the bank?
- No, no. We do this for the customers.
We're not allowed to trade
on behalf of the bank.
Be sure you remember that, all right?
Other dealers wear red jackets.
All same. Red is lucky Chinese color.
Well, that's the point.
We want to stand out.
We're a new operation.
We need to be noticed.
- May be bad luck. Different color.
- Bollocks. We make our own luck.
Nick's right. We're cool dudes, man.
Whoo!
- Fernando, anything happening in Tokyo?
- Nothing. How's SIMEX?
No, same here. No one's playing.
Five-ninety and trading small.
Six hundred and thin too.
Five-eighty here. There's a seller who wants
to trade in size. Shall I low tick him?
Yeah.
Flush him out.
- Squeeze the sucker.
- How many?
Two hundred.
Buy them... now.
- Buy 'em!
- Filled!
- We paid 580 for 200.
- Way to go, Nick. I sold at 590.
Fuck a duck!
Just made 2,000 quid.
Yes!
They were a good bunch,
and they were keen to learn.
It looked like a madhouse with all
the traders waving and shouting...
like bookies at a racetrack, but it all
made sense once you got the hang of it.
There were some hiccups, of course,
but that's normal in any operation.
Especially a new one like ours.
The important thing was we were
picking up the business,
and the future looked rosy.
Nick what's the difference between
initial margin and variation margin?
Initial margin's like a down payment
on each futures contract that we trade,
and we don't have to pay that in full
until the contract matures.
But in the meantime, the value
of each contract may go up... or down.
So SIMEX calculate our positions
on a daily basis,
and they'll ask us for more money
if the market moves against us.
- And that's variation margin.
- Got it.
I think.
We need to open an errors account.
We've had a few mistakes.
Nothing serious, but I need somewhere
to put them till I can work them out.
Sure. And what number
shall I give it?
- What's your lucky number?
- Eight. Eight is a very lucky
Chinese number.
- And how many numbers do we need?
- Five.
Then let's give it
all the luck it can handle.
Call it the 8-8-8-8-8 account.
And now it gives me great pleasure...
to welcome the chairman
of Barings Bank,
Peter Baring.
We may be the oldest
merchant bank in the world,
but that's no excuse
for not keeping up with the times.
When I became chairman, I realized...
we couldn't go on running Barings
like a gentleman's club.
We had to look beyond...
our traditional recruiting grounds--
the old school tie--
to seek out a new and hungrier breed.
We're beginning to see
the fruits of those efforts,
and I have to say,
the recovery and profitability...
since the reorganization
has been amazing.
To be frank,
I've discovered it's not
actually terribly difficult...
to make money
in the securities business.
Filled!
Yeah, you paid 50 for 20.
Come in.
Simon, uh, I've got a slight problem.
One of the girls sold 20 contracts
for Fuji Bank instead of buying.
Uh, I can't do anything
about it till Monday.
And what's the damage?
Twenty thousand at the close.
Sack the cow.
She'll never work on SIMEX again.
- That's a bit hard, isn't it?
- Look, you handle it.
Have a word with London, but make sure
you make that client good.
All right.
Hey, have a beer, shithead.
Hi, darling.
Anyone seen Kim?
She was here a minute ago.
Kim.
Nick. Nick.
Nick, I'm really sorry.
I got so confused.
Everyone was shouting all at once.
That's the job. That's what
it's all about-- keeping a cool head.
I'm so sorry.
I'll pay you back the money.
Sure, Kim.
Four years' salary?
And if the market moves this weekend,
it could be even worse.
Come on, come on. Come on,
everyone makes mistakes.
Look, with a bit of luck, I can trade
out of it on Monday, all right?
Nick, I've been waiting for you while
everyone else is having a good time.
- I'm going home now.
- Kim!
Kim.
- Everything all right?
- Never better.
Why don't you let me come in and help?
I can't just sit around
on my ass all day doing nothing.
It's not a problem, Lisa.
I can handle it.
Fernando, how are
March futures looking?
- I need to make up 20 contracts
at Friday's price.
- You won't get Friday's price.
I should have closed off the position
first thing Monday and taken a loss.
Instead I waited
for the market to change.
It changed, all right,
but not the way I wanted.
Now I was stuck with a bigger loss
than I could own up to,
and it was all my fault.
Nick, I hear your girl
handed in her notice.
Yeah, never came back.
She couldn't stand the pace.
So much for loyalty.
Did you make the client good?
Of course.
Made a small profit, actually.
Good man.
This one's for the five eights account.
I bought the missing contracts.
- Sixty thousand pounds?
- Shh!
- It was only 20 before.
- The market went the wrong way.
I had to cut the loss.
What did Simon Jones say?
Are you serious?
He'd shut us down if he knew.
Everything will be all right so long as we
balance the books by the end of the month.
- How?
- Well, we trade on our own account...
until we wipe out the losses, and then
we can use money from the client account...
and pay it back
with next month's profits.
You mean, gamble?
Relax, Bonnie.
That's all the market is--
one giant casino.
George!
I was counting on the
fact that nobody looked at the books...
until the end of each month.
As long as the five eights account showed
a nil balance on the last day of the month,
no one would suspect
anything was wrong.
But instead of winning back
the position, we made more losses,
and I had to borrow more money from
the client account to keep them hidden.
Fucking hell, George! What are you
playing at? Get fucking out!
Get fucking out!
Now!
What the hell are you
playing at? Out!
Get out!
It's all right, mate.
Fuckin' hell!
- Aah.
- God, you're so tense.
You're stiff as a bloody board.
If you only knew
what I had to deal with.
All 'cause those bastards
won't let me hire proper staff.
- I thought it was going so well.
- It is. It's going brilliant.
I just spend most of my life
covering everybody else's ass.
Why don't you let me come in
and help out with the back office?
- I'm bored being a lady of leisure.
- No.
Why not? It's ridiculous you have to handle
the trading floor and settlements office.
You could have a nervous breakdown
at this rate.
'Cause I don't want you interfering,
Lisa. I can handle it on my own.
Oh, all right, then. Keep your pants on.
No one's saying you can't.
I'm not going back
to being a bloody clerk.
I'd rather be a plasterer.
My mom always used to say that I
could be anything I wanted to be,
so long as I took my chances
and worked like a dog.
Well, you have, haven't you? You've
worked really hard and it's paid off.
She'd have been so proud of you, Nick.
- Do you really think so?
- Yeah.
I know I am.
That was the worst part--
Lisa thinking I was
this brilliant success.
If she only knew
what a fuckup I really was.
When I wanted the market
to go up, it went down.
If I wanted it to go down, it went up.
It was hard not to take it personally.
Nick. Nick.
I've just worked out the balance
on the eights account.
- The losses are over
ten million dollars.
- Keep your fucking voice down.
Look, there's no need to panic.
There's not enough in the client
account to make margin payments, Nick.
Right.
I need dollars. I need dollars to cover
the initial margin payment.
I can get dollars from London to cover the
client positions on the futures that I buy.
Nothing unusual about that.
But I'm gonna need yen.
Gonna need yen to cover
the daily variation columns...
which'll leave a yen deficit
by the end of the month.
Unless--
Unless I sell options.
That'll generate commission and yen.
And return the balance sheet on
the five eights account to zero.
As long as I could
get London to keep sending out money...
to finance the client positions,
I'd have enough cash to stay on top
of the margin payments.
It was like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
But hopefully I'd end up making enough
money to pay Peter back before he found out.
Meanwhile, I had to generate
more and more business...
to justify my cash calls,
and for that I needed customers.
The bigger the better.
Bon. Tres bien.
Mr. Leeson,
I'm Pierre Beaumarchais.
- Nice to meet you.
- I work for the Geneva Banking
Trust based in the Bahamas.
I was speaking with Ang Swee Tian,
president of SIMEX.
He's very impressed by the amount
of business you've been generating.
- There's a lot of opportunities here.
- Oh, yes.
I do a lot of business on SIMEX.
With the exception of George Sorros,
I probably trade in the Nikkei
more than anyone.
Sometimes over
5,000 contracts in a day.
That is a lot.
The whole market only does about 20.
Could Barings handle
that amount of business?
You bet we could.
Beaumarchais was the answer
to my prayers.
I'd be able to siphon off enough commission
to square the eights account once and for all.
- Hello?
- Pierre Beaumarchais.
I want to buy 4,000 June contracts.
I've got a price of 350 on my screen,
but this'll move it.
Try not to pay more than 400.
We've got to get them cheap.
Beaumarchais is a big player.
If we can pull this off for him,
then we get a shitload of business.
- What's liquidity like?
- Tight as a flea's ass.
We'll get away with 500,
and then the price will move up.
All right. Then we've got to con the
other traders into thinking we're sellers.
And when the price drops, buy.
All right?
Okay.
Two-fifty. Sell 250.
Sell 250.
Sell 240.
Sell 240.
Sell 240.
Sell 240.
Sell 240.
Sell 200.
Sell 200. Two hundred.
Sell 200.
Two hundred.
Sell 200.
- Buy 500 contracts.
- Sell 200.
Buy? Buy?
Buy at 200!
Buy at 200.
Buy at 210.
- Buy at 210. Buy at 200.
- Buy at 200.
- Buy it, buy it! Buy at 200.
- Buy at 220.
- Filled!
- Buy at 230. Buy at 230.
- Buy 240! Buy 240!
- Buy 240!
Buy 250!
Filled.
Nobody saw us coming. We swooped on
the first 1,500 like a Stealth bomber.
- Four thousand contracts.
- Balls of steel, fat boy.
Balls of fucking steel!
At last my luck had changed.
Suddenly I couldn't stop making money.
I was long on the Nikkei. That meant
I was gambling on it going up.
And up it went.
Up and up and up.
If it went up all the way to 19,000,
I stood to make a killing
in all the options I've been selling.
Come on. Come on.
Oh, baby, you can do it. Come on.
Bonnie, we're on a fucking roll!
Yes!
It's amazing.
You've made back all the losses--
over ten million dollars.
What did I tell you,
O ye of little faith.
You keep doubling up,
and sooner or later...
you're bound to win.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei has closed up...
for the third day in a row,
and the rally shows little sign
of running out of steam.
Analysts are predicting
additional gains...
in the days ahead.
- Happy?
- Yeah. You?
Never better.
I have been sailing
a bit close to the wind.
I didn't want to worry you with it.
- What do you mean?
- No, it's all right.
The market turned around, and a whole
load of my positions came good.
I made it all back.
What are you on about, Nick?
Don't get your knickers in a twist,
but we made some mistakes...
and ran up some losses.
I had to go out on a bit of a limb
to get back the position.
Well, how big were the losses?
- It was about a million.
- A million quid?
For God's sake, Nick.
No, it's all right.
Paid off. Squared up.
I had to do it to protect the guys.
Yeah, well, you promise me
that you'll never do that again.
- It's not worth it, Nick.
- I promise.
You will give me a heart attack.
- Merry Christmas.
- Merry Christmas.
Fuck off.
And I really meant it.
I was the number one trader in town.
And as the new year came in,
I was determined to kick...
my addiction to the eights
account once and for all.
What's your opinion of the market,
Nick, long-term?
Long-term? Are you kidding? No one
thinks long-term. They think nanoseconds.
- Long-term's tomorrow morning.
- Okay, tomorrow morning, then.
That would be telling.
- Leeson speaks, the market moves.
- You said it, mate.
- Pierre.
- I want to sell the 220 call options...
and buy the 200 calls in December.
I've got an offer
of.138 for size.
Can you do better?
- I'll get back to you.
- Quick as you can, Nick.
I have to move fast.
What the hell is he on about,
.138 for size?
The market in 220 calls is down.
He wants to cut his losses.
- Yeah, but why.138?
- It's a ratio.
The 200 calls are trading at 1,400.
Divide 200 by 1,400,
you get.143.
All right,
but not.138.
Unless someone's offered him
a discount to get the business.
Probably Societe Generale. We can't let those
wankers get him. Pierre's our biggest client.
- What are you gonna do?
- Just have to leg it.
You mean, buy the contracts from Pierre
and sell them when the market rises, is it?
I thought we were not supposed
to trade for the bank.
Pierre, I can do it.
What's the exact size?
6,500? All right.
Leave it with me. No problem.
What if the market doesn't rise, huh?
What if the market falls?
I've gambled and won before.
I can gamble and win again.
Balls of steel, me old mateys,
and you better believe it.
Bonnie, I need you to reopen
the eights account.
We really got caned on those
Beaumarchais contracts...
and now the bastard's dumped us
and gone back to Societe Generale.
You'd better fax Brenda Granger in London,
ask her for more funds to cover the payments.
Tell her it's for client positions.
- Hello?
- Nick, it's Simon.
Can you come to my office?
- I need to see you right away.
- Christ, I'd been rumbled.
The only surprise was
it had taken so long.
What was I gonna tell Lisa?
She'd bloody murder me.
Come in.
Congratulations, Nick.
The '93 bonuses are in,
and you're down for 135 grand.
1-3-5?
That's fantastic!
Your little operation generated profits
in excess of ten million pounds last year.
You're a star.
In fact, your figures are so high,
they're going to check up on you.
Check up on me?
They're sending Ash Lewis
out for the audit.
Don't worry. It's purely routine.
Ash Lewis?
She's meant to be a right
ball breaker, isn't she?
That's our booth.
Filled, filled.
Paid 250.
Hi, Nick.
This is Ron Baker and Ash Lewis.
Ron is head
of derivatives trading in London.
- Which I guess makes me your boss, Nick.
- Nice to meet you.
- How do you do, Mr. Leeson?
- Very well, thank you.
Okay, let's see the action.
Henry!
So who's doing all the business?
We're the biggest, right?
Well, we do a lot of arbitrage,
so we do have a high volume.
We signal all the orders in to George
in the pit there in front.
This is Henry. And at the end
of the day, the girls in the office,
they log all the deals
onto the computer.
You're the manager
of the trading floor...
and the settlements office,
is that right?
Yes. Henry, you got
a tick in the hundred. Yes, yes.
That's a little unusual.
Whatever happened
to checks and balances?
That's something
we need to talk about.
I'm going to be here for three weeks.
This is going to be...
a thoroughly comprehensive audit.
No stone unturned, as they say.
Absolutely.
Anything I can do to help.
Any stone needs turning,
then you let me know.
Are we filled? Good man, Henry.
Nice to see you, Simon.
Dad's seen this flat in Blackheath
that's a really good investment.
Needs a bit of work, but him
and my granddad can fix it up.
Think of it like an insurance policy
in case you get sacked,
have to go back to England
and work as a plasterer.
Oh, what's up with you, misery guts?
What would you do, Lise? What would
you do if I did get the elbow?
You've just been given
a ruddy great big bonus.
Yeah, but what if it all went wrong? What if
I'm not as clever as everyone thinks I am?
Oh, of course you are.
Anyway, it's you that I love.
I don't give a toss about the money.
If it was up to me, we'd jack it
all in now, go back to England...
and start a family.
You're doing brilliantly, Nick.
You're a bloody star.
Nick?
- Nick.
- Fuck. Simon.
What's happening?
You're looking disgustingly chirpy.
Haven't you heard? Panic over.
Ash has been called back to London.
- You're kidding. Why?
- Office politics.
Some turf battle between Baring Futures
and Baring Securities.
- And what about the audit?
- They're sending Mark Taylor
and Chris Carr.
Compared to Ash,
they're a couple of pussies.
Pity. I was rather
looking forward to seeing...
the dreaded Ash Lewis in action.
Oh, yes!
No, I'm just leaving now.
All right, well, I'm just
gonna go jump in the shower.
- So if you get home first,
will you put the oven on?
- All right, sweetheart.
- I'll see you then.
- Bye, darling.
- Get in, you bastard.
- What the fuck is that?
Sex on wheels.
It's a Porsche, moron. Get in!
I'll tell you what it is.
It's disgusting.
I'll tell you what it is:
It's a great big hard-on.
Got to think of something
to do with my bonus.
Keep your eyes on the road,
you flash git.
That's a fucking
one-way street, George.
Goodness gracious!
Great balls of steel!
Oh, shit!
There's that journalist from Reuters.
- Nick. Nick.
- He's been bugging me
for weeks for an interview.
- Hey, Nick.
- Hi, mate.
- All right, Loy?
- Nick, my man. What'll you have?
Beer, please. You know George Seow,
one of my dealers?
How do you do. This is Danny Argyropoulis,
works for Intercontinental Trading.
- Nice to meet you, Danny.
- Yeah, nice to meet you, mate.
I've heard a lot about you.
I hear Barings have almost cornered
the market over here, thanks to you.
Yeah, well, rumors of my success
are greatly exaggerated.
Don't be so modest.
Do you know what they are calling him?
- What are they calling him?
- King of the exchange.
SIMEX just gave Barings an award for
the amount of business he's generated.
- How you doing? All right?
I'd love a beer.
- Do you want a beer?
And it's called a depth charge.
It's guaranteed to blow
your fucking head off.
- Are you ready?
- Let's do it.
- Well, all right.
- Let's have it.
A-one, a-two, a-three!
Bottoms up.
Hey, pretty women,
what are you waiting for?
Come on!
- Come on!
- Tough shit, George.
For some reason,
your charm's just not working tonight.
Stuck-up bitches.
I bet they're Singapore Air hostesses.
Flight lieutenants, if you don't mind.
- Flight lieutenants.
- What do they want?
Help 'em to decide
if they wanna come in...
or if they don't want to come in.
Let's give 'em a hand and moon 'em.
That should help 'em decide.
Come on, don't be shy.
Your mother wasn't.
I love this man.
- On the count of three?
- It worked before.
- And it'll work again.
- One,
two, three.
- Bottoms up!
- Oh! Oh!
That is disgusting!
Absolutely brilliant, Nick!
Drinks are on me.
Enough depth charges
to sink a battleship.
- Fuck. What time is it?
- I don't know.
- Gotta phone Lisa. Gotta phone her.
- Give her a bell.
- Oh, you've got to be joking.
- No laughing matter.
Outraging a lady's modesty.
Very serious crime in Singapore.
News of my disgrace reached London...
at the highest level.
It's slightly embarrassing,
but one of our traders in Singapore...
got drunk the other night
and pulled a moon.
What did you say?
He exposed his bottom.
- Why?
- Playing silly buggers, I expect.
Unfortunately, the law over there
takes rather a dim view.
Maybe we should sack him.
Sacking him would be awkward,
to say the least.
He generates a significant amount of our
profits in the Southeast Asia division.
I, uh, I ought to mention
we're getting rather a lot of stick...
from the Bank of England
about our funding over there.
Technically, we're in breach of regulations
governing the ratio of lending to capital.
Would you like me to have
a quiet word in their ear?
Oh, we're not quite there yet.
When I spoke to Andy Dixon at the bank,
he said that the matter was, uh,
buried reasonably deep
in his "in" tray.
Just flagging a concern.
Quite right. Something somebody
should keep an eye on.
Well, is that it, then?
Any other business?
Well, what about this chap, Leeson?
He of the exhibitionist tendencies?
Well, I suppose that's probably something we
should leave to the Singapore authorities.
I have to say I'm inclined to agree.
So, it was the profits that saved me.
If they only knew.
Nick, that guy from Reuters again.
It's the second time he's called today.
Tell him I've--
Oh, fuck it.
Give me the phone.
Print me up a balance
on the eights account, will you?
- Hi, Loy. What's shaking?
- Nick. You're a hard man to pin down.
Well, you know how it is.
What can I do you for?
- That's quite a position
you've been buying.
- We're happy.
I don't know which way
the client wants to play it.
Who is this mystery client, Nick?
He must have rather large balls.
I'm sorry, mate.
You know how it is.
Client confidentiality and all that.
Is it Pierre Beaumarchais?
Sorry, Loy.
I gotta go.
I'll speak to you later.
I'll speak to you some other time.
Jesus Christ, Bonnie.
It's 7.78 billion yen.
Do you want the dollar amount?
At a hundred yen to the dollar--
Yeah, yeah,
it's 77.8 million dollars.
Right. I want you to book me
the following national trade.
Selling 1,000 December, 21,500.
Put options at a price of 7-7-7-8.
And then print me a new report
after that entry,
so we show 7.78 billion yen
as if it was owing to us from SIMEX.
Sure, Nick.
And, uh, then fax Brenda Granger
in London asking for more funds.
Tell her we've had a large margin call
on our client positions.
- How much?
- A million.
Make it two.
- Nick.
- Hmm?
Nick, it's the phone.
Hello?
- I'm not disturbing you, am I?
- It's 2:00 a.m.
Oh, Christ. Sorry, mate.
Had no idea.
Listen, the point is,
the old farts are getting nervous.
They want you to unwind
the position a little.
That's easier said than done, Ron.
Don't want to send
the wrong signal to the market.
Yeah, yeah. Second thing is, we need
another two million pounds profit...
by next month to secure our bonuses.
Two million?
Ron, what planet do you live on, mate?
One minute you want me to unwind
the positions, and the next--
Failure is not an option, mate.
We're counting on you.
Now, I'll see you at the junket
in London in three weeks' time.
Two million?
Who do they think I am, George Sorros?
We were coming to the end
of another year,
and I was deeper
in the shit than ever.
Barings wanted me to be one of the speakers
at their annual group conference in London.
I was their star trader, and they all
wanted to know the secrets of my success.
It didn't bear thinking about.
Is Nan staying with Auntie Karen?
Yeah. That's the best place
she could be, actually.
Oh, poor thing.
She's been crying
all the time, has she?
Hello?
Nick, it's for you.
Ron Baker?
Ron. Can't believe
you tracked me down already.
Listen, with this conference
and everything,
you're gonna be away from the trading
floor one hell of a long time.
Well, I had to come back
a week early for this funeral.
I told you, Lisa's granddad
passed away.
Yeah, I'm sorry about that, mate,
but I'm fighting for your bonus here.
You need to keep up those profits.
- I couldn't miss this funeral.
- No one's asking you to.
I'm going to issue you
a security pass...
so you can come in on Sunday
and trade through the night.
With the time difference,
you won't miss a thing.
Get out the fuckin' way!
Well, if he's working this hard,
he's gonna need his food.
He wants me to go into the office
on Sunday night and trade.
Well, no! That's
completely out of order.
Let someone else make
the bloody profits for a change.
She's right, Nick.
You're not a machine.
It's bonus time. If I don't deliver,
then everybody loses out.
Well, it's not fair, Nick.
You carry on at this rate,
you're gonna be in a right old state.
It's gonna be your funeral next.
"For as much as it pleased
almighty God,
of His great mercy,
to take unto Himself the soul...
of our dear brother here departed,
we therefore commit
his body to the ground.
Earth to earth,
ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
Good to see you, son.
Sorry occasion, but there you go.
- He had a good innings.
- That's the main thing.
So how's it going over there?
- Can't complain.
- We're all proud of you, Nick,
what you've achieved.
- It's no big deal.
- Don't be so bloody modest.
You're a plasterer's son.
I just wish your mum
could've been here to see it.
So do I.
I'll try not to let you all down, Dad.
- What did you say?
- It's okay. It's jet lag.
Don't pay any attention to me.
I felt sick going into the office,
seeing all the people
I'd been avoiding for months.
It was one thing
to con people over the phone,
but it was quite another
to do it to their face.
Nick?
It's you, isn't it?
Nick Leeson?
I heard you were coming in.
- You haven't the vaguest idea
who I am, have you?
- Brenda?
- Mm-hmm.
- Of course. I'm sorry. How are you?
So I finally get
to put a face to the voice.
My God, you are so young.
Well, aging rapidly, I'm afraid.
Look, Nick, why don't you
come into my office?
I really do need
to talk to you about the figures.
Brenda, I have a meeting
with Peter Norris in three minutes.
Oh, well, do come in
right after, okay?
Nobody out there can give us answers
to our questions but you.
And they just asked
for another ton of funding.
- All right. This one?
- Yeah.
- All right.
- Bye.
Brenda was my cash lifeline.
She was the last person I wanted
asking awkward questions.
- I wanted you to meet Nick--
- But first, I had to deal with Peter Norris.
He's such a red-hot trader,
I've arranged for him...
- to come in overnight
and keep trading the Nikkei.
- Are you really?
You can't keep Nick away from the floor.
He's the key man in Singapore.
- Sounds like you're the key man in Asia.
- He's an animal. He's insane.
- You should see the way
he takes that market on.
- Are you enjoying yourself?
- Yes, it's all right.
- "All right"?
Now, we need to talk about...
merging the sales areas in Asia.
Nick has some views. If we can replicate
his success in Hong Kong and Tokyo--
What do you think, Nick?
It does make a lot of sense to merge.
Um, there would need
to be controls, of course.
But the trading books can be used
in such a way as to supplement...
the customer's requirements
and increase information flows...
synergetically.
Exactly, synergy.
So you see, Peter, Nick agrees.
And he's been very successful
with his customers.
They love him.
Yes. Excellent.
Well, keep up the good work.
Ron, you sort out what you want
with this merger.
Now, gentlemen, I really have to--
- Good to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Cheers.
- See you later.
I think that went well, don't you?
He seemed to go for the merger idea.
Oh, he did, Ron.
He really went for it.
Hey, this'll be good for you too.
They'll give you some kind
of fancy new title.
Could you hold on a second?
Uh, Nick?
Nick?
Ron?
Being good is not good enough.
Everyone must be connected
to our strategy,
or we will find you and weed you out.
Information arbitrage is our business.
If you don't know what
an information curve is, then find out.
Position yourself
in an information curve.
Dominate the curve.
Nick Leeson,
who most of you know
and all of you have heard of,
runs our operation in Singapore,
which I want all of you
to try to emulate.
Now, you'll hear later from Nick
about how he does it,
but I just want
to drive home to you guys...
that if you could all
think about Nick...
and perhaps come up with ideas
to follow his footsteps,
Barings will become one of the most
successful operations...
in the derivatives business.
Oh, fuck!
Oh, we are going to make
so much money.
But more to the point,
you are going to make...
so... much... money.
Oh. Nick.
- Nick, wake up.
- Lisa.
- We're meant to be going to the dinner.
- I can't.
I can't face it.
I can't take it anymore.
I'm not going back after Christmas.
You can't make me.
What are you going on about? You're sitting
next to Peter Norris in the seat of honor.
Oh, don't tell me you missed
your presentation too?
- I've been drinking.
- No, I never would have guessed.
It's downright rude.
They were expecting you.
- You can't let everybody down like that.
- You don't understand, Lisa.
I'm sitting on a fucking volcano.
I can't go back.
And what about your bonus?
Now, stop babbling
and get yourself dressed.
- I'll give you volcano,
Nick Leeson, right up your bum.
- Lisa! Lisa-- oi!
- In you go. You stink.
- I don't need a sh-- Lisa!
Oh, Lisa.
You bitch.
- I'm going to kill you now.
- Oh, look at you.
What a disgusting sight.
Look at you.
Oh, no, you're going to
get me all wet! Nick!
- Nick?
- Mm-hmm?
You go get dressed.
Stop.
You go get dressed!
Promise me
you'll always love me, Lisa.
Whatever happens,
you'll always love me.
Oh, of course I will.
You're my man, aren't you?
It was crazy going back.
I couldn't hope to survive
the end-of-the-year audit.
There was that little matter
of the 7.78 billion yen...
which I'd fabricated to plug the hole
in the five eights account.
I should have told Lisa
when I had the chance,
but there was this voice
that kept telling me,
"I traded out of my losses before,
I could trade out of them again."
What's this letter all about?
Well, it's from SIMEX.
Yes, I know it's from SIMEX.
It came while you were away.
"It appears that your company
has financed the trading positions...
held by subaccount 8-8-8-8-8.
If this is the case,
you have violated SIMEX rule 8-2-2...
which prohibits members
from financing...
the trading margins
of their customers."
They're just banging on about
our intraday funding limits.
Well, what is subaccount
8-8-8-8-8 anyway?
It's a customer account.
We have umpteen trading accounts,
so I'd have to look into it.
We're the number-one trader in town, and
they're trying to tie us up in red tape.
Anyone would think
they didn't want us to trade.
Uh, I'll draft an answer for you.
Yeah, do that, will you?
Get it on my desk by the morning.
Of course, Simon.
Lisa?
Lisa?
Lisa, what are you doing?
I'm bleeding, Nick.
Why didn't you tell me?
'Cause I was waiting till I was sure.
- You're not angry with me, are you?
- I'm not angry with you.
Of course I'm not angry
with you, my love.
- You want the baby, don't you, Nick?
- I really want the baby.
I want lots and lots of babies.
- Right?
- Yeah.
Your wife is okay.
I'm afraid she's lost her baby.
I'm sorry.
That was the turning point.
That was when I decided
I couldn't stand around any longer,
hoping the market
would move in my favor.
I was going to have to make it move.
I didn't care how much money it took.
I was going to go for broke.
The man is single-handedly
generating a fifth...
of the group's
worldwide operating profits.
I know, Ron. But 30 million dollars
in margin payments?
- For one-day's trading?
- No, you don't seem to understand.
The volumes are enormous. Nick's guy
is the biggest player on SIMEX.
- Hello?
- Nick, it's Brenda.
Listen, buddy,
this is putting a terrible strain
on our borrowing.
Tony Hawes is all over me
about your cash calls.
Yeah, I hear you, Brenda. But London
is the cash cow for the business here.
We just don't have access
to any other funds.
I mean, frankly,
if you keep hassling me like this,
I've got a good mind
just to stop trading.
No, no, no, no, Nick, it's okay.
Just get back to me
with some meaningful figures, okay?
Fuck off.
Hello?
Nick, thank goodness I've caught you.
Listen, I know Brenda's been giving you
a hard time.
I don't think any of you seem
to understand how it works out here.
Yeah, you might be right about
that, mate. Consider it sorted.
But you are going to have to
start reducing these positions.
Well, Ron,
I'll see what I can do, all right?
Oh, and while I've got you,
about your bonus--
the budget's tight, and although
you've been exceptional,
there's not much to go 'round.
I thought we had a record year!
Yeah. Having said all that,
I've put in a special plea to Peter,
and he's agreed to go up to 350.
350? That's ridiculous.
I'm really pushing out the boat for you.
I'm making an exception.
Listen, I'm busting my balls here.
I made us the top house in SIMEX.
We even got that award
for the amount of business we're doing.
Yeah, I know that, Nick.
Look, I'll see what I can do.
I'll see if it can't start
with a four, eh?
It was their opening offer.
They would've thought something
was wrong if I'd accepted straightaway.
Yeah, it's like winning the lottery.
They must think the world of you.
What's the matter, Lisa?
What do you think's
the bloody matter, Nick?
Everything's changed.
I just want to go home. I want to
get the hell out of here and go home.
But you wanted to come back.
What about the bonus?
Why can't you get the bonus in London?
Please, Nick,
I want to go on with my life.
- I want to start a family.
I'm going stir-crazy here on my own.
- All right.
Calm down. Look, I just need
a little bit more time...
to sort things out,
turn things around.
No! You're up at dawn, then you come
back at night, you collapse into bed.
How am I meant to get pregnant again
if we never make love?
I know. But this could
set us up for life.
- When's bonus day?
- Twenty-fourth of February.
Just five weeks to go.
Right. We're going to leave
on the 25th.
I mean it. I'm calling
the furniture movers tomorrow.
All right.
All right.
With everything else closing in on me,
I'd forgotten all about
the mooning charge.
When it finally came to court,
I was facing a possible jail sentence.
The charge has been reduced
to a misdemeanor.
The maximum penalty is a $200 fine.
- I think we should plead guilty.
- Thank you very much.
It was uncanny.
I'd got away with it again.
To the Singapore legal system.
- A shining example to the free world.
- Oh, yeah.
We bared our all for Barings.
Bearer bonds takes on
a whole new meaning after this.
Talk about a "bare" market.
Hello, Mooners Anonymous.
This is Wei Wei
from Coopers and Lybrand.
- Is that Nick?
- Speaking.
I'm compiling the end-of-year audit,
and there seems to be
a big hole in the accounts.
I'm missing this 7.78 billion yen,
receivable from SIMEX.
Nick? Can you hear me?
Is everything all right?
It's a little bit complicated.
What do you need?
I can't find any paperwork.
It was an over-the-counter trade between
Speer, Leads and Kellagg and Barings, London.
It fell through the computer system.
I'll have a word with the systems
manager. I'll get something to you.
I need three bits of paper.
One: confirmation from S.L.K...
that the 7.78 billion yen
will be paid.
Two: sight of your bank balance
to show it's been received.
And three: a note
from Ron Baker...
saying he's aware of the deal
and approves it.
- Well?
- Oh, it's nothing.
Just a computer glitch.
They're doing their annual audit.
And so with scissors and paste,
I created 78 million dollars
out of thin air.
This was forgery, pure and simple,
and there was no going back.
- Nick.
- Simon.
Jesus, you almost gave me
a heart attack.
- What's this missing seven billion yen?
- Oh, that's a nightmare.
Um, it's an O.T.C. trade from last
month that was incorrectly booked.
The auditors are really
on my case about it.
It's a pain in the bloody ass,
but we've got to get it sorted.
- The point is,
we're owed the money by S.L.K.
- Who the hell are S.L.K.?
Speer, Leads and Kellagg.
It's a brokerage house.
Better send me a memo soon as.
Get these auditors off my back.
Sure, Simon.
Don't worry, I'm onto it.
Bonnie, it's Nick.
Listen.
Listen very carefully.
I want you to transfer
7.78 billion yen...
from the client account into
the house account first thing tomorrow.
But it won't go.
There isn't enough money.
Yeah, I know that. But you can
reverse it immediately after.
It's just an electronic transaction.
I want the transfer done,
and I want the bank to send us a fax
of the statement...
showing the 7.78 billion yen
credit, all right?
- All right, Nick. If you say so.
- All right. Cheers, Bonnie.
Nick?
What's all this
about seven billion yen?
Just had someone on the phone from
London called Tony Hawes looking for you.
Jesus Christ, if I hear any more
about this seven billion yen--
It's about 70 million dollars,
isn't it?
What do you reckon?
Red or blue?
What, and you think I just walked off
with 70 million dollars?
- No, I didn't say that.
- It's a computer error.
Well, you need someone
to help in the back office.
That's what I've been telling you.
You're not bloomin' Superman.
- Don't start all that again.
- It wouldn't have happened
if I'd have been there.
Right. I'm going out.
- Where are you going?
- To get pissed.
And if anyone calls,
tell 'em I've gone to South America.
Oh, well, you can
bloody stay there, then!
Twat!
What have you done now, Leeson?
What have you done now?
Come in.
I thought you'd like to know
the audit's been cleared.
Nick got them the paperwork.
Everybody's happy.
Thanks, Ron.
Technically, we're in breach
of SIMEX regulations,
but basically,
it was just a nontransaction.
With any luck, the auditors won't
mention it in the official report,
or we could have problems
with the local regulator.
Sounds sensible.
Do you know... Nick made ten million
dollars doing arbitrage in a week?
That's about...
half a billion dollars a year.
The guy's a turbo-arbitrager.
Well, frankly, if he's doing that amount
of business for that amount of profit,
I don't know why we don't shut down
the rest of the bank.
- We're just overhead.
- Yeah.
- Hello?
- Nick.
Have you been avoiding me?
I've been trying to reach you for days.
Sorry, Tony.
It's been chaos here.
The audit went through.
I thought you knew.
It's this S.L.K. thing.
- It's all been cleared up.
- I know.
What's bothering me is where
you got all the money to actually,
well, pay S.L.K.
in the first place.
I mean, it's the equivalent
of 78 million dollars.
It doesn't add up, you know.
It's obvious, Tony.
It's part of the funding...
that we've had from you
over the past few weeks.
- Yes.
- So, the same figure
will flow back to you.
I see. You're saying that some
of the funding was used to pay S.L.K.?
That's right, Tony.
So we'll be able to pay it back to you.
Oh, that'll be good. Uh, getting
our funding down will be good.
I'm having to juggle
quite a few balls at the moment.
Yeah, we all are, believe me.
Look, I'm sorry.
I've got to dash.
I've got company for dinner.
Uh, yes, of course. Well, thanks, Nick.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Yes, Ron.
What do you want?
It's me, you wanker, Danny.
Bubble? What are you doing calling me
in the middle of the night?
Are you anywhere near a TV?
I suggest you tune in to CNN.
The worst damage
was in the seaport of Kobe.
Road and rail links are shattered,
- buildings have collapsed
and fires are burning.
- Jesus, an earthquake.
That's all we fucking need.
This is going to kill the market, man.
- The Nikkei is going to fall
through the fucking floor.
- There are thousands of people...
milling around in search of help.
Rescue operations are going to be
complicated, long and expensive.
Mike Chanoi, CNN,
reporting live from Tokyo.
Market's down 300 points, you stand
there cool as a fucking cucumber.
The way I see it, Bubble,
it's an opportunity.
I'm going to buy into the market.
You watch.
Buy it all the way back up
to 19,000. Oi!
Fucking true what they say
about your gonads, mate.
See what I mean?
I think I'll give Fernando
a bell in Tokyo, see what's shaking.
No pun intended.
Fernando, it's Nick.
What's the situation in Kobe?
We've been trying to contact our
friends, but the lines are down.
Hold it a sec.
We've got movement.
Holy shit! Selling!
There's some selling!
Fucking hell, it's a free fall.
I've never seen it move so fast.
Three hundred and fifty! Three
hundred and fifty! Three hundred and fifty!
Nick?
Sure you don't want us to stay?
No, I'm fine. You go.
You'll make it right, Nick.
We all believe in you.
Fifty million.
I, Nicholas Leeson,
have lost 50 million quid...
in one day!
What does he do, exactly? That's what
no one seems able to explain.
It's simple, Tony. He switches
contracts between Osaka and SIMEX,
exploiting price differentials
between the two markets.
That's how he offers
the best deals to our customers.
If it's that easy,
why isn't everybody doing it?
Because he's absolutely in the center,
in the vortex, of the information curve
over there.
He's discovered a whole new way
of making money.
Well, he's giving us horrendous
funding problems, that's all I know.
He doesn't do things by the book, Ron.
He doesn't respect the rules.
Is he really the kind of person
we should be employing at Barings?
Oh, fuck the rules, Tony.
It's barrow boys like Nick who are
turning the city of London around.
You can't run a modern financial center
with a bunch of Hooray Henries.
Bastard.
Wakey, wakey.
- What's the action, mate?
- You tell me.
The market is up and down,
up and down like a tart's knickers.
- I think the worst of it's over.
- Who knows? You could be right.
Well, that's my hunch, anyway.
Listen, I was out last night
with that Loy--
you know, that journo from Reuters.
Now, he's convinced there's no
mystery customer. He reckons it's you.
He thinks you're trading
on your own account...
without the bank's approval.
Now, you're not that crazy, are you?
What do you think?
Well, who, then?
Beaumarchais?
- I thought he'd given you the elbow.
- I can't tell you.
Come on.
It's me, Danny boy.
I could tell you, but I'd have to
shoot you afterwards.
I know one thing.
If customer "X" didn't exist,
you'd have to invent him.
Forty-five million?
You've already had a hundred this week.
Everybody's
had an advance margin call...
from SIMEX on their client positions.
They're worried about market stability
with these big movements.
- It's an emergency measure?
- Right.
Isn't everybody squealing out there?
No, we get it back
when the market calms down.
Nick, for the umpteenth time, when are
you going to reduce these positions?
- The bean counters are freaking out.
- Didn't know you were there.
For fuck's sake, we've had the Bank of
International Settlements in Basle...
asking if Barings can meet
its margin payments.
It is not good for the image.
I hear you, Ron.
It's a tight market.
Yeah, well, you've really got to try.
Take a hit on it if you have to.
I know Norris is going to want to discuss
it with you when he's out there next week.
Norris?
I didn't know he was coming.
Yeah, with Tony Hawes.
They want to check on these numbers,
iron out these funding problems
once and for all.
There was no way
I could reduce my positions...
without the market collapsing.
By the time they got to Singapore
I was in deeper than ever,
faxing Brenda on a daily basis...
30, 40 million dollars at a time.
They were going to kill me.
Looking like shit, Nick.
Looking like fucking shit, mate.
- Good evening, sir.
- Good evening.
- Nick, there you are.
- I'm sorry I'm a little bit late.
- Hello. Good to see you.
- Nick.
- What'll you have?
- Oh, a beer would be great, thanks.
Another Tiger, please.
Nick.
- How was the market today?
- Staying between 18 and 18.3,
drifting a little bit.
Seems to have settled
after the earthquake.
And the positions you're running,
you're happy with them?
I'm relaxed. They're mainly March
contracts, so I'll let them expire.
- Good.
- Thanks.
Thank you.
Now, we've had a lot of stick...
over funding.
Brenda Granger tells me we're borrowing
all over Japan to get the funds to you.
People are beginning to talk.
I understand.
I understand completely.
Excellent.
Good man.
And that was it.
That was apparently all he had to say on
the subject of my enormous exposure...
that was causing so many ulcers
throughout the Barings' empire.
Better than you can get
in London, that's for sure.
You'll enjoy the next course.
- Lobster, sir?
- No, thanks. I'm not very hungry.
I should have
been able to relax after that,
but I couldn't stop thinking about
the losses in the five eights account.
It's a shame you can't stay
for the match on Saturday.
You're down for 450, aren't you?
Your bonus?
Only a week to go.
Sorry?
Have you thought about
what you're going to do with it?
Only a week to go.
Excuse me.
I have an announcement to make.
I know that some of you...
are worried about our exposure
in the market,
and, um, you're probably wondering
about the identity...
of our mystery customer "X."
Well, the fact is, he doesn't exist.
We're the customer-- Barings.
And if you look properly
at the five eights account--
which is not a client account,
it's an errors account--
you'll realize that
it's concealing losses...
in the region
of 200 hundred million pounds.
No, I tell a lie. It's more like
230 after today.
Only a week to go.
What are you going to do
with all that money, Nick?
Well, I'm not going to spend it
on futures and options.
- That was very good.
- Very good.
I was living
from day to day, hoping for a miracle.
I wasn't running the position anymore,
the position was running me.
Man, look at the state you're in.
You've got the bloody shakes.
- You been on the razz all night?
- No.
- I'm just getting killed by the market.
- Tell me about it.
I've had a shitty week too.
Penguin?
You lucky sod.
- Do you know how rare they are?
- Do you know?
- Well, it ain't that bloody funny.
- Lucky Leeson.
You have it.
I'm not laughing at you, Bubble.
Fuck. Sorry.
You really are in a bad way, ain't ya?
What's the matter?
I have an unauthorized position.
Fucking hell.
How big?
Big enough to be a problem.
Poor bastard.
I can't say it comes
as a complete surprise. Does Lisa know?
No, she'd kill me.
She's got enough
on her plate at the moment.
She's just waiting for bonus day
so we can go home.
So what are you going to do?
Well, I just have to
keep buying futures...
like they're going out of style
to support the market.
If it sticks around 18,000,
then my options are still in the money,
and I could get the position back.
- I may even come out ahead.
- Nick.
You listen to me now, right?
Listen to me.
You don't fight the market, man.
Even if you can make the margin calls,
what happens when the contracts expire?
Eh? The way the market's going at the
moment, your losses could be catastrophic.
Five for a thousand!
Five for a thousand! Come on!
Come on, George!
Move this fucking market!
If it stays below 18,000, we're dead!
Come on!
Nick.
- Nick?
- Tony.
Nick, I really need to go over
some of the figures with you.
Sure, Tony.
I'll be back in a minute.
It's falling, Nick.
- It's dropping like a stone.
- Come on!
I'm sorry! Money!
I'd thrown away countless more millions,
and it hadn't made a dent.
I was only one day from bonus day,
but the game was up.
I was beaten.
Oh, Nick,
you're a bloody fool, aren't you?
Well, it's not the end of the world.
You've got your health, you've got me.
Shame about the bonus.
Sorry.
Get ready to slow down.
The video shop's on the next left.
- I want to go and get our deposit back.
- All right.
We're going to need it, darling.
- Hello?
- For Christ's sake.
The positions have got bigger.
If they aren't reduced,
I'm coming out there personally
to sort you out.
- You're very faint, Ron.
- And what's this rumor I'm hearing?
There's a rumor
that we're the customer.
I'm sorry, Ron,
you're going to have to speak up.
Tell me we're not the customer, Nick.
- I'm losing you, Ron.
- Nick-- Nick, are you there?
Good-bye, Ron.
They wouldn't give me the full 200,
but I stood my ground and got 180.
Good girl.
Nick?
Excuse me, sir.
There's a phone call for you.
- Not now.
- It's Peter Norris.
He said it's urgent.
Oh. Thank you.
If you'll excuse me.
Peter?
I'm sorry to drag you away
from your dinner party.
I'm afraid I've got
some rather bad news.
By the time the shit
hit the proverbial fan in London,
we'd escaped from Singapore to ponder
the future and consider my options,
if I had any.
What's going to happen, Nick?
Well, they must've got my fax and
closed down all the positions on Friday.
The market seems
to be holding up okay.
But you're definitely out of a job?
It could have been a lot worse,
but I still lost them a ton of money.
I'm starving.
Do you think they do burgers here?
No, you're not having a burger.
- That tummy of yours is driving me nuts.
- Don't stress me, wench.
I'll work it off in the gym.
Better still--
- Stop it. People are watching.
- So? I don't care. Come here, girl.
Jesus Christ, Lisa.
Barings has gone bust.
What?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Kenneth Clarke,
is trying to calm fears sparked
by the failure of Barings Bank.
In a statement to Parliament,
he denied reports...
that the British banking system
is about to collapse.
According to him, Barings' failure
is a unique situation...
which he blames on the actions
of a rogue trader in Singapore.
Estimates of potential losses
range from 800 million...
to over one billion pounds.
There's no way of knowing how markets
will react when they reopen on Monday.
And while the Bank of England tries
to put together a rescue package--
with the Sultan of Brunei
rumored as a possible buyer--
time may be running out for one of Britain's
most venerable financial institutions.
- Charles Samson, CNN, London.
- Fuck.
Oh, Nick.
How could you not tell me?
How could you have kept it hidden
for all this time, Nick?
God, you must have been through hell.
- You would have marched me
into Simon Jones' office.
- Yeah, bloody right I would.
Then I would've gotten fired, and I wouldn't
have had a chance to make the money back.
- That's what I was going to do.
- No, you were gambling.
That's what you were doing
with other people's money.
I didn't want to let everyone down--
you, my dad,
the girls in the office,
even Ron bloody Baker.
Do you think they're all
going to hate me now?
Well, I don't think you're
going to be Mr. Popular.
It could easily have been
the other way, you know.
It so nearly was.
And then I'd be a hero.
Oh. Come here.
Come here.
I still love ya. Hmm?
- I love you very much.
- I love you too.
Shall we see if we can do something
about that belly?
I see.
Yes, I understand.
No, of course.
Well, thank you again
for your efforts. Good-bye.
That was the Sultan
of Brunei's office.
They have decided not to proceed.
They believe the risks are too great
and the time too short,
in view of the need
to have a rescue package in place...
by the time the markets
open again in the Far East.
Is there really no one else?
We've tried everyone.
It's hopeless.
I therefore have to inform you
that Barings is insolvent...
and will go into immediate liquidation.
Peter Barings has gone on TV
and said there's been a conspiracy.
They've lost 800 million quid!
My losses were nowhere near that.
It was more like 300.
I know, but Barings
didn't do anything Friday.
- So now the word's out,
and the market's crashed.
- Bloody idiots!
- Listen, they think you've done
a runner on your yacht.
- What?
I know.
But listen, mate,
you've got no friends here now,
so just get the fuck out of Asia.
Get back to London, Australia,
anywhere. Just get the fuck out.
- Yeah, we're trying.
- Oh, and, Nick,
get yourself a good lawyer.
- Be lucky.
- Cheers, mate.
Flight 187
to Hong Kong leaving from gate two.
Oh, fuck.
Fuck.
It's crazy.
There's a manhunt all over Asia.
They think we're sailing
around Indonesia in our yacht.
- What bloody yacht?
- I know. It's crazy.
What about the flights?
- There's one to London
that goes via Singapore.
- That's no good.
Well, there's a flight to Frankfurt,
goes via Abu Dhabi.
Let's take it.
And Lisa, pay cash.
Malaysian
Airlines, flight 7682 to Frankfurt...
is now ready for boarding.
Passengers, please proceed
to the departure hall.
Thank you.
- Newspaper, sir?
- Uh, no, thank you.
- Ma'am?
- Um, no, thanks.
Welcome to our flight
to Frankfurt, Germany via Abu Dhabi.
- We shall be cruising at a height--
- Nick, take that thing off.
- There's a guy over there looking at me.
- Yeah?
I'm not surprised
with that bloody hat on.
Talk about conspicuous. You're
sticking out like a sore bloody thumb.
We would like to remind passengers
that smoking--
Did you say we stop at Abu Dhabi?
Yeah.
Lisa, that's where
they cut your hands off.
Oh, don't be ridiculous.
They just stone you.
What?
I'm sorry, but you've got to laugh.
Poor old Barings, eh?
That's what you get for hiring
the wrong sort of person.
That was when it hit me--
the enormity of what I'd done.
Whatever happened, I knew things
were never going to be the same again.
And I never felt lonelier
in all my life.
I love you, Lisa.
Whatever happens, I love you.
I love you too.
I've got to get back to London.
I couldn't stand it
if I was in jail in Singapore.
I couldn't stand it
if I couldn't see you.
Jesus Christ, it's the police.
They must know I'm on the flight.
Well, no, not necessarily.
Due to the early arrival of the flight,
passport control will take place
as you leave the plane.
Please have your documents ready.
See?
I'm scared, Lisa.
You be strong, okay?
Danke.
Pass, bitte.
Danke.
Thank you. Danke.
Please show your passport.
Where is your man?
I'm her man.
Twenty on five! Twenty on five!
Twenty on five!
250 bid on a hundred!
250 bid on a hundred! Come on!
Who wants some of that?
250 bid on a hundred!
250 bid on a hundred!
Come on!
And that's it, more or less.
That's the end of my story.
Barings was eventually sold
to the Dutch bank I.N.G...
for the princely sum of one pound.
Lisa's got a new life working as
a flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic.
I hear she's got herself a new fella.
As for me, I fought unsuccessfully
against extradition...
from Frankfurt to Singapore on charges
of fraud, forgery and breach of trust.
I was sentenced
to six and a half years in prison.
Despite rumors of secret bank accounts
and hidden millions,
I did not profit personally
from my unlawful trading.
To be absolutely honest,
sometimes I wish I had.