Top Firm Fined Over $120m Rogue Trader

Morgan Stanley has been fined $2.1m by UK financial market regulator The Financial Services Authority (FSA), after London-based credit trader Matthew Piper was found to have mispriced his trading book and successfully hid losses for a period of up to 6 months. The firm evenutally repriced his positions by some $120m.

Piper, who was fined $159,000 and barred for life from the industry, admitted his wrongdoing to the firm in April. He was suspended in May, when the full extent of his losses emerged, and finally fired in September, following an independent investigation undertaken by law firm Clifford Chance.

A spokesperson for the FSA, which is said to have uncovered at least 10 incidences of failure on Morgan Stanley's part, said: 'Piper has been banned because his misconduct was deliberate, frequent and repeated over a six-month period. He was a senior and experienced trader who held a position of trust at the firm, This was clearly a serious breach of standards of behaviour we expect of approved persons'.

The Guardian reports that Morgan Stanley's risk management controls were thought to have been inadequate, and the firm was picked up for not responding quickly enough to changing credit market conditions by adjusting its risk management systems.

Morgan Stanley said: 'We are pleased to have agreed to an early settlement with the FSA, and now consider this matter to be behind us'.