The FCA sanctions imposed will also restrict the company from taking on new corporate broking clients for a period of 72 days in relation to its regulated activities between Monday 22 February and Wednesday 4 May 2016. This sanction has no impact on the existing client relationships within WH Ireland’s corporate broking division.
WH Ireland’s failings, which amounted to a breach of Principle 3 under the FCA guidelines, included: deficient controls to ensure inside information did not leak from the private to the public side of its business or in ensuring disclosure to external parties was conducted in a controlled manner with proper safeguards in place; inadequate personal account dealing rules for employees; failures to maintain an effective written conflicts of interest policy; absence of formal risk management framework for market abuse and inadequate post trade surveillance systems.