Stock Trader Accidentally Buys $251 Million In Shares -- Blames New Computer

from the whoops dept

We've seen plenty of stories about new (expensive) computer systems that create serious problems for employees. There's the system that made people cry, the $51 million resource planning system that couldn't do a budget and the police systems that made it difficult to call for help. Well, now a stock trading firm in Taiwan apparently handed a new computer system to a trader and didn't give her very much training. So, in messing around with the system she accidentally bought $251 million in stock -- creating a multi-million dollar loss for the firm. The rest of the story gets strange though. The woman was fired for the goof -- but you have to wonder (1) why she wasn't trained properly and (2) how come the system wasn't designed in a way to prevent such trades. Also, the firm in question is keeping the shares saying they believe the stock has a "good outlook." So, they apparently value the shares that she bought with a bad computer system they didn't properly train her on. And she gets fired for this? Seems a bit unfair.

1 Comments | Leave a Comment..