Bank fraud could happen again, freed rogue trader warns

A former UBS trader jailed for fraud after losing the bank £1.4bn has said it could happen again.

Kweku Adoboli, 36, was released from prison last summer after serving half of his seven-year sentence for two counts of fraud.

He told the BBC he was sorry for his mistakes but warned his former colleagues were still under the same pressure he was to make money.

He said banking had not changed since he was found guilty in 2012.

Prosecutors said Adoboli racked up the largest loss in British banking history by disguising underlying positions with late bookings of real trades and the booking of fictitious trades.

Adoboli admitted the enormous losses but claimed he was pressured by staff to take risks, culminating in a catastrophe which wiped £2.8bn off the bank's share value at the time.

Speaking about the current state of banking he said: 'I think the young people I've spoken to, former colleagues I have spoken to, are still struggling with the same issues, the same conflicts, the same pressures to achieve no matter what.

'And this goes back to the structure of the industry. People are required to take risk to generate profit, because yields in the industry are consistently compressed.'

When he was asked if another trader could do what he did he said: 'Absolutely.'