Money talks: Nick Leeson today
Rogue trader Nick Leeson ran up millions of pounds of losses and brought about the collapse of Barings Bank. After admitting charges of forgery and cheating, he served four years in Changi prison in Singapore.
Now the 56-year-old tells Donna Ferguson he commands fees of £5,000 an hour as an after-dinner speaker, talking about his biggest money mistake.
He lives with his wife, Leona, 50, in a five-bedroom house in Galway, Ireland.
What did your parents teach you about money?
Not a great deal. I come from a very working class background and grew up on a council estate. My mother was a hospital care assistant and my dad was a plasterer. There were four of us – I have a brother and two sisters.
We never went short of anything we needed, like food, but it was very apparent to me that money was hard to come by. There were times my father would throw his hand to anything in order to earn enough to keep the family going.
The lesson was: you work hard for what you get.
What is your biggest money mistake?
As money mistakes go, I don’t think anything can rival this answer.
Between 1992 and 1995, I ran up £862 million of losses from unauthorised trading for Barings Bank – which in today’s money is the equivalent of £1.7 billion. It caused the collapse of the bank.
It’s nearly 30 years since it happened. I accepted the prison sentence the judge gave me without question and I have been through a period of remorse.
But I have had to move on and I’ve done that because, as much as I’d want to, I can’t undo the past. There’s absolutely no doubt that it’s still embarrassing.
What drove you to do it?
I was somebody who grew up wanting success and I just couldn’t deal with failure. I couldn’t enunciate the fact that I was failing and that’s how it mushroomed to £862 million, because I couldn’t confess and tell people what was happening.
I drank a lot of alcohol during that period, which was my coping strategy. I would go out and drink to a stage where I’d be able to sleep. In fact, I would often black out. Everything was about avoidance.
As long as I avoided realising my own failure, and I got away with it, I could be normal at the weekends for a short period of time. Then I’d go back on Monday and it was horrific. But it was self-induced. I’m not looking for sympathy.
How big was the bonus you were due to receive that year?
My bonus was £400,000 – the equivalent of £780,000 in today’s money.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
I’ve been really fortunate that I’ve never struggled the way my parents did. Obviously, in prison, I had no money. For the first two years, I was locked up for 23 hours a day. After that, I worked in the prison.
I would get paid 60 Singapore cents (35p) for a week’s work cleaning dishes – enough to buy me a chocolate bar.
What happened to all your money while you were in prison?
I gave the liquidators control over everything including money I had in my bank accounts.
Plus a few properties in the UK that were sold. The liquidators continued to take half of everything I earned for a few years – maybe about four – after I left prison.
What was the best year of your financial life?
Either 1992, when I got a £130,000 bonus from Barings Bank, or 2018, when I was on Celebrity Big Brother and also earned money from after-dinner speaking. I earned around £250,000 during each of those years.
How much do you earn as an after-dinner speaker?
I receive around £5,000 for a speech which lasts 45 minutes. A lot of it is about risk management, behaviour, conduct and culture, all pertaining to the story of Barings. Obviously I went through a very stressful period, both in business and in my life in general, so mental health is another subject I talk about.
Deja vu: Nick Leeson (far left) at Barings, and above right played by Ewan McGregor in the film Rogue Trader
The most expensive thing you bought for fun?
I’ve always worn a plain silver Rolex watch since I lived in Singapore. The most expensive one I ever bought cost £5,000 but I tend to pay around £3,000 or £4,000. I still wear one.
The best money decision you have made?
Buying my five-bedroom home in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. It has 0.9 acres of land. My wife and I bought it for £575,000 in 2005 and it’s probably worth close to £1 million.
Do you save in a pension or invest in shares?
I only invest in the stock market through a self-administered pension scheme, which I’ve been saving into since 2005.
I choose my own stocks and am drawn to volatility. I trade in and out of certain companies, like the biopharmaceutical company Avacta, on a regular basis. I probably look at its share price on my phone once a day.
If you were Chancellor what would you do?
I would stop levying income tax on anyone who earns less than £30,000. Wealth should be distributed more evenly and people who earn less should pay less tax.
I’m not a socialist. I’m a complete and utter capitalist. But I think people who genuinely need it should get more support.
What is your number one financial priority?
Providing for my children – daughter Kirstie, 29, and two sons, Alex, 23, and Mackenzie, 18 – gives me purpose.
