Securities: FSA bans commodities broker for market abuse
The UK's Financial Services Authority has fined Andrew Charles Kerr GBP100,000 for market abuse and banned him from the financial services industry on the grounds that he is not a fit and proper person.
>>> Financial Crime Forum : Market Abuse : Singapore : 21/22 July 2010 <<<
The FSA is scathing in its findings: "On 15 August 2007, Kerr deliberately manipulated the market in London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) traded coffee futures and the related coffee futures options. Implementing a plan previously developed with his client, Kerr executed trades during a key one minute period of trading in order to increase artificially the price of coffee futures, the results of which were intended to benefit his client. Although Kerr was successful in his attempt to manipulate the market his client did not make the intended profit. This in no way diminishes the seriousness of his market abuse.
"Kerr actively encouraged the market manipulation and benefited financially through his standard commission on the trades. Also, while being investigated, Kerr provided false and misleading information. This demonstrates that Kerr lacks the integrity required of a fit and proper person and that he poses a risk to the FSA’s statutory objective of maintaining confidence in the financial system. The FSA considers this to be a serious case of market abuse that had the effect of creating a false or misleading impression of market prices. "
The FSA says that Kerr agreed to settle this case and therefore qualified for a 20 per cent discount under the FSA’s executive settlement procedures. Had Kerr not settled at this stage the FSA would have imposed a financial penalty of GBP125,000.
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