23/03/2010 Author: Shannon Hawthorne

Top city firms in insider trading probe

Senior city professionals from Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and $15bn hedge fund Moore Capital were among seven individuals arrested as part of the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA’s) largest ever operation against insider dealing.

16 addresses in the London, South East and Oxfordshire areas were searched, and documents and computers seized, as part of the joint operation between the FSA and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which began in late 2007.

It is alleged that the city professionals passed inside information to traders who then profited substantially from the subsequent trades. A seventh individual was arrested today, following the six arrests made yesterday, the FSA has confirmed.

Moore Capital has issued a statement confirming that a member of its London Equity Execution team is involved in the FSA investigation, stating that the employee had been placed on administrative leave and adding that the investigation did not involve any of the funds managed by the firm.

This is the fifth time that FSA investigations into insider dealing have resulted in arrest since 2008, though it is the first time the organisation has team up with SOCA to carry out an operation.