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Foreign Correspondent: Nov 15

Foreign Correspondent meets a former insider who alleges major criminal activity in some of Europe’s top banks.

With Europe on the brink of a financial meltdown, Foreign Correspondent‘s Emma Alberici meets a former insider who alleges major criminal activity in some of Europe’s top banks.

Barings Bank had survived all that more than two centuries had thrown at it. The Industrial Revolution, World Wars even the Great Depression. Then a long came one audacious 20-something called Nick Leeson and the whole venerable, rock-solid British financial institution came tumbling down.

“I didn’t know that the bank was going to collapse. I didn’t know what the capital base of the bank was. I wasn’t really interested as long as the money kept coming I knew the effect of my actions would be dramatic. I didn’t really understand they would be quite as catastrophic as they were.” Nick Leeson- Rogue Trader

Trading futures in Singapore, Leeson blew more than a billion dollars, Barings closed its doors and he went to jail. All these years on, with super-sophisticated systems monitoring the traders and their every deal, what are the chances of it happening again? If you’d asked Nick Leeson in recent years he would have told you ‘extremely remote.’

And yet just a couple of months ago, and as Europe rocked and reeled in a financial crisis that’s also shaking the rest of the world, another rogue trader was nabbed. Kweku Adoboli – a trader at the giant European bank UBS – was arrested and accused of burning 2.3 billion dollars. How could it possibly happen?

Europe Correspondent Emma Alberici has assembled a stellar cast of famous and infamous financial luminaries to investigate if rogue traders are really reckless loners or simply individuals pushed to extremes by a reckless and unruly financial sector. What can their behavior tell us about Wall St Investment Banking and the Global Financial Crisis, the crises and collapses in Ireland, Iceland and elsewhere.

Emma Alberici meets a former insider who – speaking for the first time – alleges major criminal activity in some of Europe’s top banks and who says the regulators are asleep at the wheel.

We also hear from a trader-turned-neuro scientists who’s research reveals that testosterone is a major motivator of extreme financial plays and levels of the hormone can make a millions dollars difference to annual salaries and bonuses.

8pm Tuesday ABC1.

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