Rogue trader Nick Leeson launches risk management firm

The rogue trader who brought down Barings Bank has launched a new venture designed to help firms manage risk.

Nick Leeson claimed Risk Team Limited would help “raise risk awareness around human behaviour, culture, conduct and corporate governance issues”.

Twenty years ago, Mr Leeson made the headlines after his speculative investments led to the collapse of one of Britain’s oldest banks, Barings.

He claimed that companies had failed to learn the lessons from that incident, citing recent examples such as the emissions scandal at Volkswagen and the cyber attack at TalkTalk.

“As with every organisational scandal, there are numerous warning signals that have been ignored and Volkswagen and TalkTalk are no different,” he said.

“Barings was described as a wake-up call that nobody would ever forget, yet a brief look at the last two decades clearly shows the opposite effect. It is highly apparent that the difficult questions are still not being asked.”

Leeson set up his new firm along with Mike Finlay, a former banker and consultant.

Mr Finlay acknowledged there was “risk in such a venture”, but added: “Much of the battle is raising awareness, and Mr Leeson’s name does that immediately and allows us to focus on the intricacies of culture, governance and control as quickly as possible.”