Tim RemieA Dutch rogue trader has been busted. With many trading firms in the country, it was about time. France has Jérôme Kerviel, US has John Rusnak, Japan “Mr. 5%” Hamanaka and the UK has even two winners with Nick Leeson and Kweku Adoboli.

Thanks to Tim Remie, Holland is on the map again. He lost at least $200 million for his employer Nidera. His massive (unauthorized) trading bets turned painful when commodity prices sank. Management finally discovered the losses. The Rotterdam based grain trading company lost it on mr Remie’s biofuel positions.

WSJ reported mr Remie had “another side of the story”. Nobody has yet discovered what his story is. There have been some rumors of a more complicated story than plain simple rogue trading. After all, losing $200 million on rogue trading in the Nederlands can’t be true, can it?

Management failed

Turns out the plain, simple, rogue trading story seems to be true. As I spoke a trader who knows both Tim Remie and the commodity trading business. The trader was confident it’s a classic case of rogue trading.

Trust this story of rogue trading. This guy tricked the risk manager. Used all kind of tricks nobody understood at the firm. Management failed miserably and co-workers must have been sleeping every day. Tim’s a smart kid, not even 30 years old. If he just stayed within the lines he would have walked home with 500k each year. Some people.. greed is NOT good!

Firm survives, but acquired by Chinese food giant

The alleged rogue trading would have happened until early this year. Maybe that’s why Chinese food giant COFCO has been speeding up acquiring a bigger stake in Nidera. A trading loss of $200 million isn’t peanuts. Would reach the 9th spot in the top rogue trader list. Tim Remie is now under investigation. Most rogue traders end up in prison for years, but for the Netherlands – I’m not so sure. Anyway, his hotelschool education could come in handy.

Investigation ongoing

If mr Remie indeed used fraud to hide his rogue trading, he will join the wikipedia ranking of rogue traders. For the time being he keeps his LinkedIn profile in the air. But it’s not updated – Nidera won’t be paying any salaries. Mr Remie is from the southern city of Breda. Couldn’t verify if he’s related to the famous NAC Breda winger Peter Remie.

It’s a developing story, could take years. Even the John Rusnak case from 2002 isn’t settled yet, with banks suing other banks over the matter. John Rusnak himself was released from prison after doing nearly six years, in 2009.

Short other news

  • Euronext decided to delist Pershing Square options. Not even Susquehanna felt like quoting it. Without market makers, no trading. Pershing Square options have a history of being introduced, pulled, and introduced again. And now pulled.
  • TOM MTF reported a steep rise of 53% in volume of options traded. Market share is 42% against Euronext. Still ignoring Eurex. According to them Eurex doesn’t report screen based trading seperated from block trading.
  • Everyones favourite trading firm, IMC Financial Markets, has teamed up with US broker Convergex LLC to match retail option orders. Paul Jiganti – former Susquehanna and TD Ameritrade – may have influenced the deal. As suggested earlier, IMC is trying to get involved in payment for order flow business. Don’t blame them for the US rules, but I see nothing positive for the markets nor customers in this PFOF structure.
  • Euronext Paris will introduce spotlight options too. Only first three months maturity and less strict quoting obligations. Also,  less liquid stocks like Coface, Elior and Worldline. Options should start trading as soon as October 12th.
Jack