Hint: He is a former Deutsche Bank trader
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has today fined ex-Deutsche Bank trader Guillaume Adolph, also nicknamed the “Gollum”, £180,000 for “improperly influencing” quotes used for the Libor interest rate benchmark, and also banned him from working in any regulated financial activity.
Adolph was nicknamed “Gollum” by Tom Hayes— the UBS trader who became the first individual prosecuted for Libor manipulation.
The watchdog found that between July 2008 and March 2010, Adolph committed a number conduct failings like requests for the bank’s submissions team to adjust trading positions to benefit his own and ‘improper’ agreements with a trader at another Libor panel.
Mark Steward, the FCA’s director of enforcement stated: “Mr Adolph improperly influenced several of Deutsche’s Libor submissions in disregard of standards governing Libor submissions. Mr Adolph’s misconduct threatened the integrity of important benchmarks. He should have no further role in the financial services industry,” Steward added.
Adolph’s lawyer, BCL Solicitors, said the events occurred nearly a decade ago and Adolph wishes to move on with this life outside financial services.
“Thus, while he does not admit the FCA’s findings, Mr Adolph has waived his right to contest that he was concerned in a breach of an FCA principle by Deutsche Bank, his former employer,” BCL Solicitors said in a statement.
“The FCA does not conclude or even suggest that he was dishonest. As the FCA has previously found, the blame for the problems associated with Libor within Deutsche Bank lies firmly at the door of the bank,” BCL said.
Deutsche Bank had no immediate comment.
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