UK trader Nick Leeson worked for Baring Securities (Singapore) Limited (BSS) as the general manager and head trader. Due to his experience in operations, he also acted as head of the "back office" that does the record keeping and tracks who owes what to whom. Leeson appeared to be making huge profits by speculating on Japan's Nikkei stock market-until he fled Singapore, leaving behind a loss of £827,000,000 hidden in an unused error account on the Barings balance sheet. As a result of this situation, Barings Bank collapsed.
What internal control weaknesses at BSS allowed this loss to grow so large? How could Barings have avoided or limited the size of the loss?