Friends of arrested UBS trader Kweku Adoboli have put the blame for his alleged £2.1 billion trading losses squarely on Adoboli's obsession with Red or Black, the ITV game show that promises the chance to win £1 million.
"From the day the show started he was obsessive about it. The prize money is small beer when you're dealing daily with billions but when he failed to gain a place on a show, he looked for other ways to create that excitement of winning and losing. The short term volatility of exchange traded funds was the obvious answer."
And in a topsy-turvy twist, presenting duo Ant and Dec have been tipped for top jobs at the troubled Swiss bank. The pair commented, "We thought we'd apply. Well we could hardly do any worse could we!" "No, the most we've blown in a night is a million, plus the cost of a few beers after."