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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on
Wednesday that Farr, a former Martins Broker employee, was not
fit and proper to perform any job in financial services.
Wash trades are risk-free trades with the same party that cancel
each other out, serve no legitimate purpose but generate
brokerage payments.
Farr, a former manager on the Japanese yen desk at Martins,
arranged nine such trades between September 2008 and August
2009, after persuading a UBS trader he could influence benchmark
Libor (London interbank offered rate) interest rates.
Farr, who was aware that the wash trades were improper and
sought to conceal them, earned almost 260,000 pounds
($328,000)for Martins from UBS and RBS, increasing the bonus
pool available for Farr and the other brokers, the FCA said.
"There was no legitimate reason for Mr Farr to make these trades
and his actions were motivated by greed," said Mark Steward, the
FCA's head of enforcement.
"His actions mean he has no place in financial services.
Today's ban reflects our commitment to making sure that people
working in financial services act with integrity," Steward
added.
London-based Martins, which was rapped by the FCA in 2014 for
its role in the Libor scandal and for having inadequate systems
and controls, was dissolved in 2015.
The FCA had no immediate comment on whether it would pursue
similar actions against the other five brokers prosecuted
alongside Farr three years ago.
Libor rates help set borrowing costs for about $450 trillion of
loans globally. Authorities have fined some of the world's most
powerful banks and brokerages around $9 billion over rate
manipulation allegations and overhauled how benchmarks such as
Libor are policed.
(Additional reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by David Holmes)
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