THE INSIDER: Boozy trader gets a ban from the FSA
An email arrives from the soon to be disbanded Financial Services Authority, informing me that it has just banned an oil futures trader, one Steven Noel Perkins, from working in the City for five years.
He has also been fined £72,000 for market abuse.
However, the twist in this particular tale is that this is the first time the FSA has ever banned someone for abusing the market while drunk.
Perkins, who used to work for PVM Oil Futures, traded at 1am after a heavy drinking session and in the process, artificially pushed the price of oil up to what the FSA says were “abnormal and artificial” levels.
Rather than ban Perkins for life, the FSA has taken pity on him.
It says that as Perkins is an alcoholic and getting treatment for his addiction, he can be rehabilitated and return to the City in five years’ time. Normally, the FSA would ban someone for life.
Interestingly, the FSA estimates that half of all market participants have a few lunchtime pints. A spokesman for the FSA added that if they wanted to, people can trade while drunk.
That would certainly explain a lot of erratic market movements over the years.