Ghana Surpasses Nigeria Again - Kweku Adoboli (31) Arrested For $2 Billion Fraud

At 3.30am this morning, a man was arrested by City of London Police in connection with an unauthorised trade that Swiss bank UBS said had cost it around $2bn. The trader is believed to be London-based Kweku Adoboli.
Adoboli, of Ghanaian decent, joined UBS as a trainee in March 2006, according to the FSA Register. He had been a member of the Delta One team under John Hughes and worked on providing synthetic assets and derivatives for ETF providers.

He and Hughes are citied as the main market maker contacts at UBS on the websites of a number of ETF providers.

In June, Nick Pink, head of global equities in Europe, the Middle Easta and Africa at UBS, said: “We want to expand the synthetic business, which is is closely aligned with our strengths in prime brokerage, cash and research business.”

Like Jérôme Kerviel, who was convicted by French courts for several financial crimes at Societe Generale in 2008, Adoboli had previously had experience in UBS's back office as a trade support analyst, which would potentially have given him the knowledge of how to conceal trades.

A source close to UBS said Adoboli was a highly-rated trader on the bank’s Delta One desk and dealt with its roster of high-profile London fund clients.

Several market participants told Financial News this morning that Adoboli may have mis-hedged his exposure to the Swiss franc and attempted to hide it from his team when the market moved against him by overcompensating with a hedge in the opposite direction. Any short position on Swiss franc volatility would have suffered after volatilities rose again earlier this week. UBS claims the third largest share in global foreign exchange trading, and is the biggest trader in the euro/franc pairing.

Outside Adoboli’s former home in Aldgate – a large loft space that he rented for £1,000 a week – Philip Otabe, Adoboli’s landlord until four months ago, said he was “very, very polite –a salesman sort of chap”.

“I wouldn’t say he was the tidiest of people though”, Otabe added. “He did get behind a couple of times on the rent, but he always made a payment in due course anyway, so I never had any reason to doubt him”.

There is a Twitter account that was set up in his name in July, but this appears to have been hacked. His followers include several bankers and hedge fund blog site Zerohedge. There is also a fake Twitter account created this morning in Adoboli's name.

Before joining the Swiss Bank, Adoboli attended Nottingham University. In October 2001 he was featured in a Sky News report about Freshers Week of which he was coordinator.

He told Sky that the first week of university was hectic when it came to socialising: "It's an amazing opportunity for hundreds of student to meet at a jamboree of parties," Adoboli said.

"By the end of the week many of the first relationships will have been established and most of them will have ended."

Before university, from 1992 to 1998, he attended a Quaker academy in West Yorkshire, the Ackworth school, of which he is listed as part of the alumni network. The school was founded in 1779 near Pontefract and offers day and boarding options to students.

Hughes went to Warwick University, joining UBS as a trainee in 2005, according to the FSA register. He is a popular figure among the UBS’s London investment banking teams, according to people familiar with the matter.

Adoboli and Hughes were unreachable for comment this morning and UBS declined to comment.

http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2011-09-15/kweku-adoboli?mod=sectionheadlines-TT-IB

I think it takes a very intelligent man to co-ordinate this type of fraud - not the buffoonery shown by our stock - [b]I am a dead man with a lot of cash - please send me your bank account so i can send you half before i go to heaven [/b]Smh

You are about to open a can of worms with another Ghana v Nigeria debate

[size=20pt]Thank God I am not a "GHANAIANS".[/size]

.NET

Most investment bankers are risk-takers anyways, Gamblers I would say. The headline should be 'Investment banker arrested over $2Billion Rogue Deals'. It is highly unlikely he pulled that deal alone. Further investigation should be undertaken.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/09/15/switzerland.bank.lost/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Sources rumours say that his mother is a Nigerian.

A rogue trader has cost UBS an estimated $2 billion, the Swiss banking giant announced Thursday, revealing what could be the third-largest loss of its kind in banking history.

A $2 billion rogue trading loss would be all but unprecedented, market analyst Ralph Silva told CNN

UBS contacted the police at 1 a.m. about an allegation of fraud, and a 31-year-old man was arrested at work two and a half hours later, police commander Ian Dyson said.

British media named the suspect as UBS trader Kweku Adoboli, 31.

Why do they have to point out that he is of Ghanaian descent?

The guy is one of my closest friend's friend. They went to Uni together and did the same course (Computer Science at Nottingham). Texts have been flying among us since morning when his name came up in the news and my friend could not reach him on the phone.

I have never met him before or heard of him till today, but apparently, he is a gentle down-to-earth guy. And considering when he joined the bank, he has flown through the ranks.

He is UK private school educated, grew up in several countries (indicating his father must have been a diplomat) and posh spoken (not really Ghanian).

My friend says he does not appear to have the temperament to do this, most likely the senior people must have known and going the wrong way might be pinning it on him.

I don't know him so don't know how true it is, but if he did wrong, why fck up your good life for some stewpid bets? I would rather take the so-called "shame" of my authorised loss.

Sagamite:

The guy is one of my closest friend's friend. They went to Uni together and did the same course (Computer Science at Nottingham). Texts have been flying among us since morning when his name came up in the news and my friend could not reach him on the phone.

I have never met him before or heard of him till today, but apparently, he is a gentle down-to-earth guy. And considering when he joined the bank, he has flown through the ranks.

He is UK private school educated,  grew up in several countries (indicating his father must have been a diplomat) and posh spoken (not really Ghanian).

My friend says he does not appear to have the temperament to do this, most likely the senior people must have known and going the wrong way might be pinning it on him.

I don't know him so don't know how true it is, but if he did wrong, why fck up your good life for some stewpid bets? I would rather take the so-called "shame" of my authorised loss.

You'd be surprised that the most softly spoken traders tend to take the most risks with regards to betting. I have heard of this chap's department and they tend to house the brightest traders at UBS. He apparently bet massively against the Swiss Franc dropping (a sensible bet) but the Swiss National Bank forced the exchange rate down last week.

I'm actually quite surprised it happened at UBS because they're supposed to have best safeguards in the industry. All IB's have rogue traders, he definitely bit a bit more than he could chew.

dis dude abuse his position

2bosun:

You'd be surprised that the most softly spoken traders tend to take the most risks with regards to betting. I have heard of this chap's department and they tend to house the brightest traders at UBS. He apparently bet massively against the Swiss Franc dropping (a sensible bet) but the Swiss National Bank forced the exchange rate down last week.

I'm actually quite surprised it happened at UBS because they're supposed to have best safeguards in the industry. All IB's have rogue traders, he definitely bit a bit more than he could chew.

Yeah, my friend told me the department was top notch in UBS. Despite cutting a lot in its investment banking arm, UBS left most in his team because they were making money.

The guy must have been capable considering his rise from Trade Support (back office) to Director level in Trading (front office) under 5 years. It normally takes 6 years for a Trading Analyst (not even a Trade Support) to rise to Director. He did it from Trade support and is also black. He must have been doing something right.

This guy is from a very rich background. His dad is a retired UN employee (well, call him a friend of politicians).

He was living in a million naira per month flat in London. The boy attended a private secondary school that charges about 8 million naira a year. This is much higher than what those nairalanders who lay claims to wealthy background (call it kue kue millions)  like Sefago could ever afford (not with his yeye Eti Osa private school).

Read more jare:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/money/3817652/UBS-trader-Kweku-Adoboli-nicked-after-13bn-losses.html

Anyone who believes that guy pulled the deal alone must be very naive. Do not believe everything the media says. Do your own research! A "Rogue" trader is a code word for a "Gambler/Crook" . You do not need to be a rocket scientist to do what he did. All you need is to be connected, know a few people at the top,belong to the right alumni, a COMPUTER TERMINAL,scant analysis of financial news probably from Bloom-berg or CNBC, with a courage and instinct of a Gambler AKA risk-takers and you are ready to go.

There are few questions I would like to ask, if anyone has answers to them.

Why are they not reported when they win money? They are thrown a party and given fat bonuses.

Where did the $2billion go? Someone always benefit from a transaction. As they say, "Money doesn't burn, it only changes hands". Still waiting for more information on that one.

Who was he under and how did the trade go on with no one noticing?

In the investment banking world, when you bring in BIG MONEY, you are celebrated like a hero. But when something goes massively wrong under your head, you become the "fall guy",called a "Rogue trader" or worst scapegoated by your superiors AKA the managers, directors, supervisors and CEO's.

In fact, I don't feel sorry for Swiss banks, they are the ones that have been helping African politicians keep their stolen money under the guise of their hypocritical "banking secrecy law".

Ola one:

This guy is from a very rich background. His dad is a retired UN employee (well, call him a friend of politicians).

I guessed as much when my friend was listing all the countries he had lived in. It was more than 6, so I quickly assumed his Dad must be in the diplomacy sphere.

Ifecotag:

In fact, I don't feel sorry for Swiss banks, they are the ones that have been helping African politicians keep their stolen money under the guise of their hypocritical "banking secrecy law".

That is called "Private Banking".

When some Nigerian help people that come to our country, to be an accomplice in stealing or conning our nation, separate from their money by claiming their father stole and they need to transfer the money, they call it "Advanced fee fraud".

And our mumu leaders help them catch the people and punish them without the intended accomplice getting any punishment.

I think such should be called "Private Conning" instead and the state should keep out of it.

Ifecotag:

Anyone who believes that guy pulled the deal alone must be very naive. Do not believe everything the media says. Do your own research!  A "Rogue" trader is a code word for a "Gambler/Crook" . You do not need to be a rocket scientist to do what he did. All you need is to be connected, know a few people at the top,belong to the right alumni, a COMPUTER TERMINAL,scant analysis of financial news probably from Bloom-berg or CNBC, with a courage and instinct of a Gambler AKA risk-takers and you are ready to go.

There are few questions I would like to ask, if anyone has answers to them.

Why are they not reported when they win money? They are thrown a party and given fat bonuses.

Where did the $2billion go? Someone always benefit from a transaction. As they say, "Money doesn't burn, it only changes hands". Still waiting for more information on that one.

Who was he under and how did the trade go on with no one noticing?

In the investment banking world, when you bring in BIG MONEY, you are celebrated like a hero. But when something goes massively wrong under your head, you become the "fall guy",called a "Rogue trader" or worst scapegoated by your superiors AKA the managers, directors, supervisors and CEO's.

In fact, I don't feel sorry for Swiss banks, they are the ones that have been helping African politicians keep their stolen money under the guise of their hypocritical "banking secrecy law".

OK fair enough, I would disagree and say it takes a bit more than watching CNBC and and being bold to become an IB, you're right when you say there are definitely more people involved, his direct boss just resigned- I would think he might have had a clue something was going wrong.

Although I don't agree with you where you say money "only changes hands"- that's making it too easy. First you have to understand that money isn't limited to cash. There are several other types of money and if you spread massive bets across companies in a country and the country decides to slash it's exchange rate- you lose across the board just like you lose when you invest in the stock market.

The guy took a very risky move in not protecting (hedging) his trades- I guess the impulse greed of a massive payout was too much.

Good job Ghana! Lets steal back what they stole from us.

@Sagamite

You seem to have a quite sense of humor. They ought to understand that "what goes around, come around".

@2bosun

I respect your point of view and in depth analysis.

Come to think of it,If you are not an insider, for the most part you tend to get your information as an outsider by watching these financial news network on what Central banks is going to do about interest rates, unemployment/employment reports, budget deficit and other factors that moves the market either stock or currency. However, a lot of IB also rely on programmable robots to trade, which can be very risky. The guy being a computer science graduate might have tried it, who knows.

When I said money "only changes hands", it wasn't limited to cash. Money could be cash, electronic money and so on. Well, I don't know what gave him the guts to engage in such, maybe he has some GODFATHER behind the scene, time will tell. But he should have understood that he is not George Soros, who speculated against the British pounds and made $1billion dollars from it. Many of these hedge fund managers are owners/co-owners of their firms and have solid political connections, where they get insider information's.