Fast Money - The Nick Leeson Story

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Movie
German title The quick money - The Nick Leeson story
Alternative title: High Speed ​​Money - The Nick Leeson story
Original title Rogue trader
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 101 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director James Dearden
script James Dearden
Nick Leeson
production James Dearden
Janette Day
Paul Raphael
music Richard Hartley
camera Jean-François Robin
cut Catherine Creed
occupation

Quick Money - The Nick Leeson Story is a British movie from 1999 that is about Nick Leeson's stock market transactions and the ensuing bankruptcy of Barings Bank . The main characters are Ewan McGregor and Anna Friel . The film is based on the book "Rogue Trader" by Nick Leeson.

action

Nick Leeson works in London as a clerk for the renowned Barings Bank. He is transferred to Jakarta , where he meets his future wife Lisa, who also works for Barings. He will then be promoted to general manager of Barings Securities' Singapore office , responsible for recruiting dealers and managing and controlling trades. Leeson eventually becomes a securities dealer on the SIMEX (Singapore Monetary Exchange), making a long-cherished dream come true for him.

Nick Leeson begins to speculate without authorization . He writes his losses to the secret account 88888, the (fictitious) profits are kept by the bank. Due to his apparent success, he soon rose to become a starter . His position within Barings becomes unassailable. He satisfies inquiries from the headquarters with elaborate excuses. With forged documents, he feigns business relationships with third parties on whose behalf he allegedly carries out the speculative business.

Apart from brief interim phases, Leeson loses money with his speculations right from the start. The losses on the hidden account keep increasing. Leeson tries to compensate for the accrued losses by increasingly daring speculations and in his free time is increasingly noticeable through excessive alcohol consumption and mobbing. After showing his bare bottom to several stewardesses in a bar, Leeson is fined for "indecent self-exposure".

After the Kobe earthquake in 1995 and the subsequent Nikkei crash , the deficit increased to around £ 400 million . Leeson ultimately puts everything on one card and tries to turn things around by extremely risky speculation. In vain - the losses increase dramatically within a few weeks, finally reaching £ 825 million and shortly afterwards leading to the collapse of Barings Bank.

Leeson fled to Frankfurt with his wife to avoid imprisonment in Singapore. He was arrested at Frankfurt Airport and extradited to Singapore, where a little later he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for forgery, breach of trust and fraud. After being diagnosed with cancer, Leeson was released early after four and a half years in prison.

Reviews

In addition to the “excellent” leading actor, the lexicon of international films also praises the approach of the film, which “tackles the difficult-to-understand stock market material at great speed” . Nevertheless, the film adds "little illuminating" to the financial affair and overall "does not go beyond solid mediocrity."

The German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) in Wiesbaden awarded the film the "Predicate valuable".

The jury's opinion on the film states: “The pronounced cinematic means are used sparingly, for example when Ewan McGregor (as Nick Leeson) briefly fantasized about simply telling the truth and then vomiting over lobster. Little can be learned about people and motivations, and the money cycle remains a mystery. Some dialogues have the purely didactic purpose of conveying certain basic stock exchange knowledge. The pressure of having to be clever and the trickery element of the money market make the film work as a gambler story. "

literature

  • Nick Leeson, Susan Fearn: "Rogue Trader" , Langenscheidt-Longman 2000, ISBN 3526430500

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Fast Money - The Nick Leeson Story . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2008 (PDF; test number: 83 486 V / DVD / UMD).
  2. The Fast Money - The Nick Leeson Story in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed on June 14, 2008
  3. " https://www.fbw-filmbeval.com/film/high_speed_money_die_nick_leeson_story