The guy who tried to rig gold prices and cost his bank $44 million

It was all over in 10 minutes, but it cost Barclays nearly $44 million and landed another blow to the giant bank's reputation.

Almost two years ago , a client at the expense of a merchant Barclays in an attempt to manipulate the price of gold and profits took advantage of the weakness of internal controls .
Friday, Barclays (BCS ) by British regulators £ 26 million, or approximately $ 44 million , is fine. Public documents how to keep the business of the bank was able to slip through supervision.
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History beginning June 27, 2012 . It is a full day in the history of Berkeley. Banking icons in UK rates to try to manipulate world public opinion interest and was fined $ 453 million .
On the other hand, a gold trader Daniel Plunkett could lose too much in a single operation .
A customer the price of gold rises to nearly $ 43 million over the two years fireworks were set out.
Plunkett was on the other side of the bet : gold prices went up, lose money .
Process that dates back to 1919 , a group of banks , including Barclays , a reference price set by - the London gold fixing is based on trade agreements.
Gold $ 1558.96 an ounce on June 28 in the "correct " era, the bank will pay $ 3.9 million trading and Plunkett take a hit.
On June 27 , gold was fixed at $ 1,573.50 . And worse, the future trading price of the night is over.
Or fall - the price the next day , so Plunkett is a " mini - vomit" is expected for metals trading desk in Berkeley say their email address .
"Hopefully we have 1,558 or 1,558.75 exactly perfect ," repeated a colleague in early June 28, regulators said .
In Berkeley , the system could not detect these attempts to manipulate the price of the benchmark . It's part of the club and the prices depend on accurately determining the value of the product and may not handle conflicts of interest in the sale .
Plunkett had a weakness that can be exploited .
Set of gold began at 3 pm , as usual. Deutsche Bank ( DB ) , HSBC ( HBCYF ), Scotiabank and Society Generale ( SCGLF ) joined Berkeley in a conference call.
After weighing the purchase and sale of an interest in a couple of minutes, the group $ 1558.50 a "solution" proposal arose .
But the balance back in favor of buyers, so expect to avoid a price increase Plunkett 60,000 ounces ( approximately $ 90 million) with sales orders jumped .
15:10 "fix " let off the hook for $ 1.75 million by Barclay Trading book Plunkett to drive , $ 1558.50 , is in .
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Plunkett 's victory was short-lived . Customer almost immediately demanded an explanation , and after an investigation , Berkeley has a good trade.
"We have much the situation that led to the settlement of regret ," said Antony Jenkins , chief executive of Barclays. The bank has worked hard to improve systems and controls, and was committed to " the highest standards ," he says .
Plunkett £ 96.500 fine and is prohibited from trading.