Citi suspends senior bond trader over alleged theft from canteen
Paras Shah was one of the highest-profile traders in Europe’s junk bond market
Robert Smith in London 2 MINUTES AGOPrint this page
Citigroup has suspended one of its most senior bond traders in London after the US investment bank accused him of stealing from the office canteen.
Paras Shah abruptly left his post last month as Citi’s head of high-yield bond trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The bank suspended Mr Shah after alleging he had stolen food from the canteen at its European headquarters in Canary Wharf, London, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Citi declined to comment. Mr Shah declined to comment over email, referring inquiries to Citi.
The 31-year-old was one of the highest-profile credit traders in Europe, having joined Citi in 2017 after about seven years at HSBC. His job entailed matching buyers and sellers of junk bonds — debt from companies judged to be riskier borrowers — with two former colleagues telling the Financial Times that he was a well-liked and successful trader.
Revenue in Citi’s fixed-income trading division surged 49 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019, well ahead of analysts’ expectations, helping the bank hit its target for return on equity last year.
Financial institutions and regulators in the UK have in the past harshly disciplined executives alleged to have engaged in personal misconduct such as theft, even involving small amounts of money.
Japan’s Mizuho Bank fired a London banker in 2016 after he was caught stealing a part from a colleague’s bike worth about £5.
In 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority banned a former BlackRock executive from senior roles in the UK financial sector after he was found to have repeatedly dodged paying the train ticket for his commute to the City. Jonathan Burrows, who worked as a managing director at BlackRock Asset Management Investor Services, ended up paying £43,000 to settle the case when the extent of the evasion, which took place over several years, became clear.
Mr Shah’s LinkedIn profile shows that he graduated with an honours degree in economics from the University of Bath in 2010, joining HSBC’s fixed-income trading division the same year.
New problems for Wirecard: The Dax group does not yet have a license to continue offering certain payment services in Singapore in the future . Corresponding information from WirtschaftsWoche confirmed a spokeswoman for the Central Bank of Singapore, the authority is also the financial supervision of the country.
A few months ago, the financial regulator introduced a license obligation for payment service providers, which is mandatory in order to be able to offer certain payment transaction services in the future. The license obligation has been in effect since January 28, 2020. According to the financial regulator, Wirecard has not yet had this license, unlike other international financial service providers such as Wirecards' Dutch competitor Adyen.
Singapore is an important market for Wirecard . It is unclear whether and with what restrictions the German Dax group can be expected. It is also unclear in what form regulations apply here for a transition period of up to twelve months. Wirecard made no statement.
Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:
- ON -2.6%, CHKP -1.5%, SAIA -1.3%
Select metals/mining stocks trading lower:
- AUY -1.2%, AU -1.2%, SLV -1.1%, SBGL -1%, GOLD -0.8%, GDX -0.6%, GLD -0.5%
Other news:
- CYDY -1.8% (files for ~16 mln share common stock offering by selling stockholders)
- ASHR -1.7% Shanghai down nearly 8% overnight)
- AROC -1.4% (files for 21,656,683 share common stock offering by selling stockholders)
- UTHR -0.7% (announces study of Unituxin for small cell lung cancer did not meet primary endpoint)
- OSMT -0.6% (files for $200 mln mixed securities shelf offering and 45,368,325 ordinary share shelf offering by holders)
Analyst comments:
- NOC -1.8% (downgraded to Sell from Buy at Goldman)
- XOM -0.7% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman)
- EA -0.5% (downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets)
- VZ -0.5% (downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse)
Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:
- BIDU +3% (guides Q4 revs above consensus; pushes back Q4 reporting date due to the coronavirus), ABG +2.6%, CTLT +1.6% (also to acquire MaSTherCell Global and Orgenesis for an aggregate of $315 million in cash)
Other news:
- AIMT +16.7% (announces that the FDA approved PALFORZIA, the first approved treatment for patients with peanut allergy)
- AVXL +11.9% (FDA has granted Fast Track designation for ANAVEX2-73 clinical development program for the treatment of Rett syndrome)
- MAXR +6.6% (selected by NASA to build and fly robotic spacecraft assembly technology on Restore-L)
- GILD +4.8% (Remdesivir will be tested for use on coronavirus in China, according to Bloomberg)
- BW +4.5% (announces comprehensive debt refinancing agreement as financial performance improves)
- ARES +2.6% (to acquire seven CLO contracts through a managing interest in Crestline Denali Capital; all cash transaction will add $2.6 bln in assets under management
- BABA +1.1% (rebounding following last week's weakness)
- RGS +1% (announces transaction with Empire Education Group; cos entered into an agreement pursuant to which Regis will sell its interest in Empire Education Group in exchange for de minimis cash compensation)
Analyst comments:
- CLNE +4.3% (upgraded to Mkt Perform from Underperform at Raymond James)
- NKTR +4.1% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Mizuho)
- AXTA +3.4% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets)
- MMSI +2.4% (upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James)
- XLRN +2.3% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley)
- NKE +2.3% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS)
- ULTA +2.1% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman)
- STX +1.7% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel)
- AMAT +0.9% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank)
- KKR +0.9% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays)
Your paean to Elon Musk (“Tesla’s rise has sparked an electric revolution”, editorial January 25) rightly praises the Tesla founder for turning the world on to electric cars. But you failed to note that, along the way, Mr Musk is also guilty of dangerously overhyping the capabilities of his company’s driver assistance features.
A recent investigation by the Dutch Safety Board has noted a number of issues with Tesla’s so-called autopilot including concerns over driver overestimation, misunderstanding and misuse of the system as well as driver disengagement from the driving task. The report also found that the system can be and is activated in situations that it cannot cope with — such as unseparated highways with roundabouts.
These failures have led to deaths and serious injuries that otherwise might not have occurred.
Last year, a crash investigation by the US National Transport Safety Board found that the “autopilot” system’s design, which enabled the driver to disengage from the driving task, contributed to a serious crash.
Our fear is that the “ruthlessness” and “chutzpah” the FT attributes to Mr Musk could lead to more unnecessary deaths and injuries unless regulators on both sides of the Atlantic step up and demand changes both to the way these systems operate, and to the way they are marketed to customers.
Antonio Avenoso
Executive Director,
European Transport Safety Council,
Brussels, Belgium