The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined former Towry adviser Mark Taylor £36,285 and banned him for a period of at least two years for engaging in market abuse.
Taylor bought shares in rival wealth management firm Ashcourt Rowan, off the back of inside information accidentally provided to him in his role at Towry.
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Towry made an offer to acquire Ashcourt Rowan for £2.70 per share in February 2015, following which discussions continued into March 2015 without a deal being finalised.
On 12 March 2015, before any public announcement had been made, Towry sent an internal email to all staff stating that the firm had increased its offer for Ashcourt Rowan to £3.49 a share.
Following an attempt to recall the message, a further email was sent to all staff warning them not to act on the information as it was potentially inside information.
However, having read both emails and the attempted recall, Taylor used his online trading account to purchase 5,582 shares in Ashcourt Rowan for a total of £15,011.82.
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By GlobalDataAfter the public announcement of the increased offer for Ashcourt Rowan, Taylor then sold his shares for £18,509.91 making a profit of £3,498.
Taylor contacted his broker the following day to ask whether it was possible to reverse the trade as he feared that he may have been guilty of insider dealing. The broker declined and reported the trade to the FCA as suspicious in accordance with their obligations.
As a result of the incident, Taylor was dismissed from Towry for gross misconduct.
Mark Steward, director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA said: "There can be no let-up in tackling insider dealing and this case shows the consequences will be grave and serious ones for perpetrators, even in small cases like this one."
