Regulator suspends Barings directors

BRITAIN'S key markets regulator, the Securities and Futures Authority, has disciplined three more former directors of Barings…

BRITAIN'S key markets regulator, the Securities and Futures Authority, has disciplined three more former directors of Barings, the British merchant bank which collapsed in February 1995.

The SFA said the three - Mr George Maclean, head of the banking group of Baring Investment Bank, Mr Anthony Hawes, group treasurer of Baring Investment Bank, and Mr Anthony Gamby, director of settlements for Baring Investment Bank - had failed to act with due skill, care and diligence.

In March the SFA, which grants the licences vital to do business in London's financial district, said it had started disciplinary action against an unspecified number of unnamed individuals in connection with the collapse of Barings.

Nick Leeson, the trader blamed for stacking up £860 million of unauthorised trading losses which crippled the bank, is serving a 6 1/2 year jail sentence in Singapore.