The Fall Guy
I do not support Nick Leeson in any way for what he did, however it is quite clear that if senior management at Barings were in the slightest bit competent, Nick would never have got himself into the mess he did. In fact, Barings senior management were so incompetent, that even if it wasn't for Nick Leeson, Barings still wouldn't be here today as I am sure that some other risk-management failure would have brought about its downfall.
The real culprits were the senior management. Nick was the fall guy.
Isn't it interesting how the top bods were quite happy to continue to let NL trade while he was making profits (so they could all pick up fat bonuses on the back of HIS performance), but were completely unwilling to take the flack when the proverbial hit the fan.
It speaks volumes about the outstandingly low calibre of Barings management, such that they sat back and pocketed the bonuses while NL traded, but completely failed to support him in his time of trouble.
And let's face it, NL's time of trouble was brought about by that very same management's inability to implement proper risk controls.