Investment banks face a barrage of criticism over selling a raft of currency and commodity derivatives that have now turned toxic.
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Here is a list of some of the major derivative losses recorded:

October 2008 - CITIC Pacific, a Beijing-backed steel-to-property conglomerate, announced potential losses of up to $2 billion from unauthorised bets on volatile forex markets. The company said finance executives made unauthorised trades on the value of the Australian dollar and euro. The firm entered into contracts, known as "accumulators", which allow investors to exit if the currency they are betting on strengthens, but not if it depreciates.
January 2008 - French Bank Societe Generale lost $7.1 billion due to what it said were unauthorised bets on European stock market futures by a junior derivatives trader, Jerome Kerviel.
2006 - BAWAG P.S.K., Austria's fifth-largest bank, was purchased by Cerebus Capital after an investigation revealed a $2.4 billion in losses from failed bets against the yen and derivative dealings.
September 2006 - Amaranth Advisors LLC, hedge fund manager, collapsed after sustaining $6.4 billion in losses due to wrong-way bets on natural gas derivatives, which included a single day loss of $560 million in natural gas trading.
September 1998 - Long Term Capital Management, a major U.S. hedge fund had to be bailed out to the tune of $3.6 billion after it lost staggering sums through bad bets in global bond markets.
November 1996 - Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp recorded a $2.6 billion in losses pertaining to unauthorised copper options trading by Sumitomo's star copper trader Yasuo Hamanaka, once dubbed "Mr Five Percent" because his trading team was believed to control 5 percent of the world's copper trading.
February 1995 - One of Britain's oldest investment banks, Baring Plc booked $1.4 billion in losses on unauthorised bets mainly on Japanese stock index futures executed by Nick Leeson, General Manager of Barings Futures, Singapore. Barings was subsequently sold to Dutch bank ING for one pound.
December 1994 - California's Orange County filed for municipal bankruptcy after it lost $2 billion betting that interest rates would fall.

(Written by Carl Bagh; Editing by Lincoln Feast) Keywords: FINANCIAL/BANKS DERIVATIVES (Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit;+91 80 41355917;RM carl.bagh@thomsonreuters.com)

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