How To Be A Rogue Trader

by John Gapper

Penguin Specials are designed to fill a gap. Written to be read over a long commute or a short journey, they are original and exclusively in digital form. Nick Leeson at Barings, Jerome Kerviel at Societe Generale, John Rusnak at Allied Irish Banks. And now the 31 year-old Kweku Adoboli, who allegedly ran up $2.3bn in losses at UBS. These are the rogue traders who have bought banks to their knees and global financial systems to a halt. In this short ebook, The Financial Times columnist John Gapper unlocks the mystery by delving into the risk-taking instincts of both humans and animals - from yellow-eyed junco sparrows in Arizona to honey-bees. A rogue trader is often an outsider who starts in a lowly role and gambles with a bank's money in a bid to become a star. Gapper traces patterns of behaviour and personality that could be used to catch them before disaster strikes. But do the banks really want to? And are they just the symptoms of a financial system gone rogue?

46 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2011

About the author

Chief business commentator and an associate editor of the Financial Times. He was named one of the 100 most influential men in Britain by GQ magazine in 2009. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Chaundra · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better deconstructions of the inherent problems in discretionary trading environments. An essential read for lay-people and compliance professionals alike.