Leeson avoided reporting the unauthorized trades by convincing the head of his back office that they did not need to be reported.

Management failed to investigate high levels of reported profits even though they were associated with a low-risk trading strategy.

Leeson traded primarily in OTC foreign currency swaps that allowed Barings Bank to delay cash payments on losing trades until the first payment was due.

The loss at Barings Bank was detected when several customers complained of losses on trades that were booked to their accounts.