FCA REVOKES BANS ON FOUR FORMER TRADERS

The Financial Conduct Authority has revoked bans on Colin Bermingham, Philippe Moryoussef, Jonathan Mathew and Christian Bittar after the Court of Appeal quashed their fraud convictions. The bans followed convictions over allegations that the men had rigged the Libor and Euribor interest rates. The FCA said the convictions had formed the basis of its regulatory action. It said it had removed the associated Final Notices from its channels and would take no further action against the four men in this matter.

The Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of five former Barclays traders — Bermingham, Moryoussef, Mathew, Jay Merchant and Alex Pabon — on 7 October. The five had served prison sentences for conspiring to rig interest rates in the run-up to the financial crisis. The court quashed Bittar’s conviction over Euribor rate rigging on 9 October; he had worked at Deutsche Bank. The Serious Fraud Office pursued the prosecutions after the 2008 financial crash. The Supreme Court also overturned convictions involving former traders Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo last year.

The FCA said last year that it would halt proceedings against Hayes and revoke Palombo’s ban following the Supreme Court decision. Moryoussef said the lifting of his ban came after “14 years of devastating personal and professional consequences”. He said the decision could not restore the years he had lost or undo the damage to his career, reputation and livelihood. Mathew said he had no intention of returning to finance but welcomed the FCA’s decision. Bittar called it “the end of a fifteen-year struggle for justice”.