Trader fired amid fraud plan probe
ASSET manager Threadneedle has sacked a trader over a suspected attempt to carry out a $150m (£95.03m) rogue trade.
The American-owned firm made a complaint to the City of London Police after discovering the planned trade in August last year. It was stopped before it was completed.
The deal would have been worth around $150m and is believed to have been linked to Argentine warrants. A junior trader in Threadneedle’s investment arm was later sacked.
Last night the firm, which manages about £60bn in assets, said no client money had been lost.
A spokesman said in a statement: “In August 2011, our systems stopped a suspicious attempted trade. The matter was immediately reported to the authorities and the individual involved was subsequently dismissed.”
Threadneedle, set up in 1994, has gone through various owners and is today part of New York-listed money manager Ameriprise Financial.
It is not known whether any arrests have been made over the alleged rogue trading attempt. Both the Financial Services Authority and the police declined to comment yesterday.
It comes just days after a 44-year-old man working at Legal & General Investment Management was arrested and bailed in the FSA’s largest insider dealing operation.
Searches were also carried out at one business and two homes in London and Kent.
Last week LGIM said it was not aware of “any impact on our financial results”. The probe by the regulator and the Serious Organised Crime Agency has run for nearly two years.
Kweku Adoboli, the former UBS trader accuse of a $2.3bn rogue trade, is due to stand trial later this year. He denies all the charges.
The regulator is leading a clampdown on market abuse before it is split into two new bodies by George Osborne.