A NUMBER of former senior executives with collapsed merchant bank Barings are to face disciplinary action from their professional regulator, it was announced last night.
The executives could be barred from pursuing careers in the City of London under the proceedings started by the Securities and Futures Authority (SFA).
The authority said it had begun action against an unspecified number of unnamed people involved with Barings.
It also confirmed that the bank's former chairman Peter Baring, 60, who quit after the collapse a year ago, had no intention of resurrecting his career in the City.
Mr Baring was one of a dozen top executives investigated by the SFA, which has powers to fine, reprimand or banish individuals from the industry by refusing them a licence.
Barings was brought down by losses of some #860m run up by rogue trader Nick Leeson in the high-risk derivatives market in Singapore.
He is serving a six and a half year sentence in Singapore's Changi Prison after admitting two counts of cheating.
The SFA did not attach blame for the collapse to Mr Baring and his deputy Andrew Tuckey, though it has ``sought assurances'' from the two men over their future.
``The SFA has found no evidence indicating that responsibility for the insolvency of the group can be attributed to their actions,'' the authority said in a statement.
Mr Tuckey has undertaken not to seek, in the foreseeable future, any position in an investment house which would require registration by the authority. He continues to work for Barings under its new owner, the Dutch ING group, in an advisory capacity on corporate finance matters. He is on a one-year contract for a reported #100,000.
Company directors, managers and staff working in the securities industry in either a dealing or advisory function are obliged to be registered with the SFA. There are some 40,000 names on its register.
The authority would not name those subject to disciplinary action as they are entitled to appeal, a process which could take many months. Its report was completed in January but action was delayed so that its lawyers could ensure that any disciplinary measures could not be challenged in the courts.
Leeson pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and forgery. Nine other charges were set aside after he co-operated with the Singapore authorities. Inquiries by them and the Bank of England also pointed the figure of blame at more senior figures in the bank.
Peter Norris, former head of investment banking, and James Bax, former head of Baring's South Asian operations, were singled out for severe criticism by a report prepared by Price Waterhouse, the accountancy firm, for the Singapore finance ministry.
Mr Bax bought a Victorian mansion near Pitlochry last autumn, believed to have cost #400,000. He wife comes from Scotland.
Investors in bonds issued by Barings are pressing ahead with plans to issue writs against Mr Baring, Mr Tuckey and Mr Norris. They are expected to be served next month. Some 50 bondholders lost around #109m from the firm's collapse.
The SFA said no further details of disciplinary proceedings could be given and no further announcement would be made on the subject until they had been concluded, when the outcome in each case would be published.
If the cases go through the appeals procedure, the whole process could take many months.
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