Cenkos Securities (CNKS) has confirmed it is the subject of a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigation into the advice it provided to Quindell, the controversial insurance claims company that rebranded as Watchstone (WTG) last year. The stockbroker - which worked with Quindell on its planned move to London's main market in 2014, the same year it was paid £5.4m in Quindell shares for broking services - said it could not provide further details until the FCA probe is concluded. Following the admission on Wednesday, shares in the company dropped 8 per cent.
News of the FCA investigation follows a Sunday Times report last December that claimed Cenkos had "handed over a cache of documents" to assist the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in its ongoing criminal investigation into Quindell's accounting practices. That story sparked a 19 per cent fall in Cenkos's stock, but the broker denied it had provided or been asked to provide any information to the SFO in relation to any SFO investigation - a statement that led the stock to recover most of the lost ground.
