Seymour Pierce in 154,000 FSA fine
CITY stockbroker Seymour Pierce has been fined £154,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to spot an internal fraud.
An employee at the firm stole £150,000 in 36 transactions over three years and his secret plot went “completely undetected”, the FSAsaid yesterday.
The employee, labelled as “Mr A” in the FSA’s filings, was sacked without the firm realising what he had done.
Only when his successor noticed irregularities in the books was the fraud uncovered. MrA even transferred a personal trading loss onto Seymour Pierce’s books without the firm noticing, the FSAsaid.
FSA director of enforcement Margaret Cole said: “This is a serious failure on Seymour Pierce’s part. The frauds were not sophisticated.”