By Dara Doyle and James Ludden

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Nick Leeson, the rogue trader whose wrong-way bets on Japanese stocks ruined Britain's oldest merchant bank, said he may go back to trading full-time with only his own money at stake.

Leeson said he trades ``when I get the time'' and has been buying and selling currencies for the past few months. He is considering ``watching screens'' for a living when he decides to leave his current job as commercial director of Irish soccer team Galway United FC.

``You wouldn't believe how many people have asked me to manage their money,'' Leeson, 40, said in an interview in Galway, on Ireland's west coast on March 2. ``If I make a decision and lose money, fair enough. If I make a decision for somebody else, then I would feel obligated to make it up to them.''

The Englishman amassed losses of $1.4 billion as Barings Plc's former head trader in Singapore in 1995. The London-based bank collapsed and its assets were eventually sold to ING Groep NV of the Netherlands for 1 pound ($1.95). Barings, whose clients included Queen Elizabeth II, had financed Britain's campaign against Napoleon Bonaparte between 1804 and 1815 and helped fund Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

From 1992 to 1995, Leeson conducted illegal trades and hid losses on clients' accounts. He lost 3.6 million pounds by October 1992, a total that jumped to 164 million pounds by the end of 1994, according to a U.K. High Court case in 2003 into whether Barings' auditors were negligent.

Lessons Learned

Leeson, who grew up in the London suburb of Watford, says he'd now never risk more than he could afford to lose, and closes out his position every day. Under U.K. regulations, Leeson is free to trade on his own account. He'd have to seek registration to join a bank, which he said he wouldn't ``dream'' of doing.

``Years ago I was extremely ill-disciplined,'' said Leeson, whose primary source of income is now making after-dinner and conference speeches for as much as 10,000 pounds a time. "My experience over that period and since would be to make sure that I get myself correctly disciplined.''

His losses -- linked mainly to Japanese stock-index futures - - soared in January 1995 when the Kobe earthquake sent the market into a tailspin. During the next month, Barings wired millions of dollars to help Leeson pay margin calls on his positions. He ran out of money and fled Singapore.

`One of the Lads'

He surrendered to authorities in Germany and spent 3 1/2 years in a Singapore jail for fraud where he was diagnosed with colon cancer. The sentence, originally 6 1/2 years, was shortened for good behavior. His book, called ``Rogue Trader'' (Little, Brown, 256 pages, $25.33), was later made into a movie starring Ewan McGregor in the title role.

He moved to Galway to live with his second wife, Leona, four years ago after completing a degree in psychology in London and enjoying a ``fairly hedonistic'' first year of freedom in 1999, according to his Web site, http://www.nickleeson.com/ - http://www.nickleeson.com . He joined Galway United in 2005. Leeson's first wife, Lisa, left him while he was in jail after he admitted to dalliances with geisha girls during their marriage.

``It was a bolt out of the blue when we first heard he was coming here,'' said Noel Connolly, a groundskeeper at the club's Terryland Park stadium. ``Now he's just one of the lads, no airs and graces about him at all. What happened to him happened. It was all just numbers on a computer.''

Currency Bets

For the past four or five months, Leeson says he's been betting against the dollar. The U.S. currency has fallen 3.4 percent against the euro since Oct. 1 and 3 percent against the pound in the same period.

The volatility "has been great to play with,'' said Leeson, who manages his own pension fund, and typically doesn't actively trade stocks or commodities. ``I've made money, but I can take a slap as well from time to time.''

He said he may base himself in Galway, should he return to the markets full-time.

``Rather than going looking for a new job, I might decide I'd rather watch screens for 24 hours,'' Leeson said. ``I can't leave it alone entirely.''

Leeson, who says he played soccer ``at a decent level in the U.K.,'' runs the commercial operations at Galway United, which won promotion to the top Irish league last season and plays its first match this weekend, against west coast rivals Sligo Rovers.

United attracts crowds of about 1,600 to its rented stadium and charges ticket prices ranging from 8 to 15 euros ($10.47 to $19.64).

Revenue was about 700,000 euros last year and the club, whose best finish in Ireland's top league was second in 1986, has a budget of more than 1 million euros this year.

``I am trying to get the football club to run sound business principles,'' said Leeson. ``Every day is different, which is what I enjoyed about financial markets when I worked there.''