City watchdog vows to pursue retrial in collapsed insider trading case

By:

Add as a preferred source on Google
The FCA said that 83 per cent of the firm's DB scheme transfer advice "failed to comply with its minimum required standards, and customers risked financial loss as a result of the poor advice they received".
The FCA said that 83 per cent of the firm's DB scheme transfer advice "failed to comply with its minimum required standards, and customers risked financial loss as a result of the poor advice they received".

The UK’s financial watchdog has said it will seek a retrial against two men accused of insider trading, after a jury was unable to reach a verdict last month.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it will pursue a retrial against plastics company exec Stuart Bayes and his friend Jonathan Swann.

The FCA accused the two men of using insider information to unfairly profit from trading shares in plastics maker British Polythene Industries (BPI) ahead of its takeover by UK firm RPC Group.

The FCA said RPC executive Bayes and his friend Swann made £138,700 from insider deals, before the takeover was officially announced.

Bayes was charged with one count of dealing and a further two counts of disclosing insider information, while Swann faced one count of dealing shares in the firm.

However, last month a Southwark Crown Court jury was discharged after failing to come to a verdict following an eight-week trial of the two men.

Insider trading carries a maximum sentence of up to seven years.

The news comes after FOI data showed the FCA secured convictions against just two people for insider trading over the past five years.