[1][2] The bank collapsed in 1995 after suffering losses of £827 million (£2 billion in 2023)[3] resulting from fraudulent investments, primarily in futures contracts, conducted by its employee Nick Leeson,[4] working at its office in Singapore.

The company started business in offices off Cheapside in London, and within a few years moved to larger quarters in Mincing Lane.

One of the most valuable connections was Hope & Co., the most powerful merchant bank of Amsterdam, at that time Europe's leading financial centre.

[11] In 1796, the bank helped to finance the purchase of about 1 million acres (4000 km2) of remote land that became part of the US state of Maine.

[14] After a $3 million down payment in gold, the remainder of the purchase was made in United States bonds, which Napoleon sold to Barings through Hope & Co. of Amsterdam[15] at a price of $87.50 per $100 face value (a discount of one-eighth).

Francis's second son Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, working for Hope & Co., made the arrangements in Paris with François Barbé-Marbois, director of the Public Treasury.

[16][17] In 1803, Francis began to withdraw from active management, bringing in Thomas's younger brothers Alexander and Henry to become partners in 1804.

[10] A fall-off in business and some poor leadership in 1820s caused Barings to cede its dominance in the City of London to the rival firm of N M Rothschild & Sons.

Bates advocated a shift in Barings' efforts from Europe to the Americas, believing that greater opportunity lay in the West.

[19] Barings was appointed by Sir Robert Peel to supply "Indian corn" (maize) to Ireland for famine relief between November 1845 and July 1846, after the staple potato crop failed.

Baring Brothers stated it would refuse future commissions in famine relief, with the blame this could so easily entail.

Despite the embarrassment to his partners caused by his sympathies for the South in the American Civil War, Sturgis proved a capable banker.

A new railroad town was renamed Revelstoke, British Columbia, in honour of the leading partner of the bank that enabled the completion of the Canadian-Pacific Railway.

In 1890, Argentine president Miguel Juárez Celman was forced to resign following the Revolución del Parque, and the country was close to defaulting on its debt payments.

This crisis finally exposed the vulnerability of Barings, which lacked sufficient reserves to support the Argentine bonds.

The assets of the old house and several partners were taken over and liquidated to repay the rescue consortium, with guarantees provided by the Bank of England.

After the war, Barings was overtaken in size and influence by other banking houses, but remained an important player in the market until 1995.

[26] The bank decided to enter the UK securities market buying Henderson Crosthwaite, a stockbroker, in May 1984 and Wilson & Watford, a stock jobber, in November 1985.

With authority to settle his own trades, Leeson was able to operate with no supervision from London—an arrangement that made it easier for him to hide his losses.

His decisions routinely resulted in losses of substantial sums and he used money entrusted to the bank by subsidiaries for use in their own accounts.

[42] In March 2016, a merger was announced with other asset management subsidiaries of MassMutual, creating a new "Barings" headquartered in Charlotte, NC.

[49] In the historical novel Stone's Fall (2009) by Iain Pears, Barings and its role in the Panic of 1890 play a significant part in the story's structure.

[50] In the novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1872) by Jules Verne, Phileas Fogg's bet is guaranteed by a cheque for £20,000 drawn on Barings Bank: As today is Wednesday, the 2nd of October, I shall be due in London in this very room of the Reform Club, on Saturday, the 21st of December, at a quarter before nine p.m.; or else the twenty thousand pounds, now deposited in my name at Barings, will belong to you, in fact and in right, gentlemen.