Gartmore owns up to links with FSA suspect
TROUBLED Gartmore, whose shares have tumbled as a result of its decision to suspend a star trader, yesterday confirmed to shareholders that Clive Roberts, an equities sales trader arrested last week on suspicion of insider trading, did a lot of business with the firm.
In a statement issued to shareholders, Gartmore said: “Clive Roberts was a major counterparty of the firm when he was at ABN Amro but he has not been since he has worked for the Exane subsidiary of BNP.”
A Gartmore spokesperson added that Roberts was a high profile client of Roger Guy, the firm’s best known fund manager. “But this in no way implicates Guy in insider trading in any way,” she added.
Fears that Gartmore was becoming embroiled in the Financial Services Authority probe into insider dealing that led to seven arrests last week first undermined the group’s share price when talk centred on Roberts’ relationship with Guy.
In its statement to shareholders yesterday Gartmore added that none of the “directed trades” – which are the subject of an internal probe into the dealings of the suspended Guillame Rambourg – were linked to Roberts.
The firm said that the investigation into Rambourg, which centred on unauthorised trades rather than insider dealing, was in its infancy and it said that termination of the Canadian’s contract was “unlikely”.
Rambourg has a 3.85 per cent stake in the firm while Guy owns 5.56 per cent.