Professional recruitment specialists Alexander Daniels shunned the usual industry speaker or economic commentator when they officially opened their Bristol office last night. Instead they give guests, drawn mainly from the city's accountancy firms, the chance to hear from Nick Leeson – the rogue trader who brought down Britain's oldest investment bank and was jailed for four-and-a-half years.
In a candid speech, Mr Leeson admitted his part in Barings Bank's downfall and took full responsibility for his actions. But he also pointed the finger of blame at the lack of regulation and transparency at the bank and admitted it had been easy to cover his tracks as he clocked up ever-bigger debts, which finally amounted to £862m.
"I grew up wanting success," said Watford-born Mr Leeson, who went to work in the City from school at the age of 18 and never looked back. By 25 he was running Barings' Singapore bureau having already worked for several banks in the City and the Far East.
He told the guests: "I failed the test of my integrity. I don't like words such as 'criminal' and 'fraud' but by the dictionary definition I was those. However, there was no criminal intent. It wasn't planned."
He told how he would hide trading losses in a special account that was never checked. And when the bank's top brass – who mistakenly thought he was making them huge profiits – came to Singapore he took them to bars to get them drunk instead of letting them near the office.
At first he expected to be able to repay the losses but as the stakes got higher, they spiralled out of control. He famously fled Singapore and flew to Germany where he was arrested.
Mr Leeson, who was played by Ewen McGregor in the 1998 biopic Rogue Trader, joked that the movie was released before he was – he came out of the tough Singapore prison where he spent most of his sentence in 1999.
He said he had been called many things – a lot of them bad – but his favourite description was by a friend who said he was the man who wrote a cheque and the bank bounced.
He now lives in Ireland with his second wife – his first divorced him when he was jailed – and his three children, making a living from speaking at dinners and conferences.
Alexander Daniels' new office is part of an ambitious expansion programme for the award-winning Birmingham-based firm which was founded by three of the industry’s most experienced recruiters two years ago.
Since then it has tripled in size and now has 17 staff serving a wide range of companies in accountancy and finance.
Earlier this year, and in response to rising demand from clients, Alexander Daniels launched an executive search division to recruit directors and senior managers across a wide range of disciplines.
Finance and accountancy director Nick Pearce said: “The decision to develop our business in the South West is an exciting step forward for the company.
“I am confident that our service quality and added value philosophy will enable us to succeed in a city with a very competitive professional services industry.”
As well as finance and accountancy recruitment, a major focus is corporate governance.
Alexander Daniels has set up this specialist division to meet the increased demand for audit, risk and compliance professionals.
Areas of expertise include operational risk, audit, financial risk, credit risk, solvency II, business continuity and compliance.
Corporate governance director Ian Mourbey, said: “Our clients range from major banks, building societies and insurance companies to multinational plcs.
“With corporate governance becoming increasingly important, we are striving to become the leader in this sector outside of London.”
The office launch party was held at the Brasserie Blanc Restaurant.
