FCA bans former RBS trader from working in financial services

The Financial Conduct Authority has banned former Royal Bank of Scotland trader Paul White from working in financial services following his involvement in the Libor scandal.

The regulator found that White – who worked at RBS as a Japanese yen and Swiss franc Libor submitter – “is not a fit and proper person because he lacks integrity by virtue of his conduct when submitting RBS’ JPY and CHF rates to the British Bankers Association (BBA)”.

Mark Steward, director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “By allowing his submissions to be set, in effect, by those with collateral financial interests in the outcome, Mr White recklessly disregarded the risk – the obvious risk - that his Libor submission might corrupt Libor’s integrity.

“This ban should reinforce the message that working in financial markets entails obligations and responsibilities and that serious failures will result in substantial penalties including fines and prohibitions.”

White was the primary RBS submitter between March 2007 and November 2010 for JPY and CHF Libor and in that time he received 68 messages from RBS traders requesting submissions that would benefit their trading positions.

In addition, between March 2007 and November 2008 White sat next to a CHF derivatives trader who made oral requests for CHF Libor submissions to him on a weekly basis.

The regulator said on Tuesday that had it not been for White’s “serious financial hardship”, it would have fined him £250,000.