Kweku Adoboli

Kweku Adoboli
Born	(1980-05-21) May 21, 1980 Tema, Ghana
Occupation(s)	Investment manager, former equity trader
Known for	2011 UBS rogue trader incident

Kweku Adoboli (born 21 May 1980) is a Ghanaian-born investment manager and former equity trader. He was found guilty of unauthorized trading that resulted in losses of US$2 billion (£1.3 billion GBP) during his tenure at Swiss financial institution UBS. At UBS, he mainly operated within the Global Synthetic Equities Trading division based in London and was central to the 2011 UBS rogue trader incident. Following his incarceration, he was unsuccessful in multiple appeals against deportation rulings issued by the UK Home Office.

Early life and education

Born in Tema, Ghana, Kweku Adoboli is the son of John Adoboli, who held a senior position at the United Nations. His childhood was spent across Israel, Syria, and Iraq before relocating to the United Kingdom in 1991. He attended Ackworth School located in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, where he served as head boy. In 2000, he enrolled at the University of Nottingham initially to study Chemical Engineering but later switched to e-commerce and digital business disciplines. That same year, he was appointed Communications Officer for the University of Nottingham Students' Union. During the summer of 2002, he completed an internship within UBS’s operations department and graduated in July 2003.

Career

Adoboli began his career at UBS’s London branch as a graduate trainee in September 2003. After spending two years as a trading analyst in the bank’s back office, he advanced to the Delta One trading desk. By 2008, he had been promoted to director on the ETF desk and by 2010 earned a salary approaching £200,000 annually. Beginning in 2008, he engaged in unauthorized trading activities using bank funds and manipulated records to hide risky positions. His trades exceeded the bank’s daily limit of US$100 million per trader and were not properly hedged. Additionally, he incurred losses close to £100,000 through personal spread betting accounts with IG Index and City Index.

In mid-2011, UBS initiated an internal inquiry into Adoboli's conduct. On 14 September 2011, he confessed via email to his manager that his fictitious trades had caused a $2 billion (£1.3 billion) loss for the bank, which also led to a $4.5 billion (£2.7 billion) decline in its stock value—representing the largest unauthorized trading loss recorded in UK history.

Following his deportation back to Ghana, Adoboli focused on reestablishing his financial career with an emphasis on investment opportunities within Ghana’s bond market.

Charges and conviction

On 15 September 2011, Adoboli was apprehended by City of London Police and faced charges including two counts of fraud by abuse of position alongside four counts of false accounting. He remained in custody until 8 June 2012 when bail was granted under conditions including electronic monitoring and curfew restrictions. On 20 November 2012, a jury at Southwark Crown Court convicted him on two fraud charges but acquitted him on all false accounting allegations. He received a prison sentence of seven years. The City of London Police characterized the case as "the largest fraud" committed by one of their most sophisticated offenders.

Incarceration and Deportation Appeal Process

Adoboli served his prison term at HMP The Verne, HMP Ford, and HMP Maidstone before being released in June 2015. Although he had lived in the United Kingdom since 1991, he never acquired British citizenship, which rendered him subject to automatic deportation under Section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007 as a foreign national convicted of an offense with a sentence exceeding 12 months. Deportation procedures commenced in July 2015, during which period he stayed with acquaintances in London and Edinburgh. Following his release, Adoboli engaged actively with students and finance professionals, discussing the importance of ethical trading and sharing lessons from his own errors.

His initial appeal against deportation was unsuccessful in July 2016, and permission to pursue a judicial review was refused. Plans for his deportation were set for September 2018 amid allegations that the Home Office's hostile environment policy influenced the decision; however, officials asserted that the action complied fully with established government policies and legal frameworks. After exhausting all avenues of appeal, Adoboli was deported to Ghana on 14 November 2018.

See also

• Yasuo Hamanaka – responsible for a $2.6 billion loss over a decade due to unauthorized copper trading on the London Metal Exchange
• Howie Hubler – incurred a record $9 billion loss from a single CDS transaction at Morgan Stanley
• Jérôme Kerviel – trader at Société Générale who caused losses around €4.9 billion
• Nick Leeson – triggered an £827 million loss leading to the collapse of Barings Bank
• Bill Hwang
• List of trading losses

Further reading

• Borger, Sebastian: "Verzockt – Kweku Adoboli und die UBS", Stämpfli Verlag Bern 2013, (de)
• Fritz-Morgenthal, Sebastian & Rafeld, Hagen: "Rogue Traders – Phantoms of the Dealing Rooms", The Risk Universe, Issue 18, June 2013 (de)