The mother of all liquid lunches!
In a throwback to the heydays of the 1980s UK banking sector it was revealed that David Redmond, a trader with banking giant Morgan Stanley, has been caught taking significant gambles on the commodities market. However, it was the fact that after a liquid lunch the 28-year-old instigated a number of substantial trades on his own book which put his company at risk to the tune of £6 million overnight which is of greatest concern.
After returning to work the next day with a clear head he managed to address his "rogue trades" and even crystallised a small profit for the company. However, after learning that the company had begun an internal investigation into his trades he stepped forward to confirm the concealment of his large gambles overnight and was subsequently suspended. After being dismissed for "gross misconduct" he was then banned from trading in the City for two years by the FSA.
There is concern that this particular incident is not an isolated one and despite significant attempts by the regulators and the government to crack down on excessive risk-taking, there is still a high risk culture in the UK financial sector. When you consider the significant funding available for traders and the significant positions they can take, there will always be a degree of risk on the behalf of employers who place great trust in their traders and employees.
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