COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

Barings Reportedly Ignored Warnings About Trader: Executives at Barings, the British merchant bank that collapsed earlier this year, ignored at least seven warnings that its Singapore unit was running into trouble, London’s Sunday Times newspaper said. At least one of the warnings, in an internal audit of the bank’s operations, explicitly suggested that futures trader Nick Leeson, who was also in charge of settlements, should be stripped of some of his responsibilities to reduce the possibility of unauthorized trading, the paper said. Leeson, who is in jail in Germany, is fighting extradition to Singapore to face forgery and fraud charges. A report on the bank’s collapse by the Bank of England is expected to be made public by July 20.