Coopers fined over Barings' audits

Britain’s leading accountancy body has fined Coopers & Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, £250,000 sterling and severely…

Britain’s leading accountancy body has fined Coopers & Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, £250,000 sterling and severely reprimanded it over its role as auditors of collapsed bank Barings.

The appeals tribunal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants upheld an earlier ruling against Coopers & Lybrand but reduced the initial fine from £1 million. Both rulings were made public today.

It also severely reprimanded the Coopers' London partner responsible for the Barings' audits, Mr Gareth Maldwyn Davies, but reduced his fine to £25,000 from £65,000.

The country's oldest merchant bank collapsed in 1995 after derivatives trader Nick Leeson ran up £830 million of losses through unauthorised deals.