FSA FINES AND BANS BROKERS

LONDON - The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) says it has banned and fined broker Mohammed Suba Miah £21,000 for dishonesty and misleading customers. Miah worked at stockbroker Square Mile, which was recently fined £250,000 for persistent high-pressure sales tactics and providing misleading information. The regulator also acted to ban two partners from another mortgage broker for submitting false mortgage applications.

Amjad Malik and Tahir Mahmood, at Essex-based firm Abbaci Associates, submitted false information on clients' occupations and incomes. The FSA reviewed 19 transactions by Miah at Square Mile between December 2005 and May 2006. The frauds at Abbaci took place between October 2004 and October 2007, when the firm agreed to cease trading at the FSA's request.

The FSA found in 11 of Miah's cases he had dishonestly recorded the purchase of high-risk shares by customers without permissions. The first customers would have known about the trades would have been demands sent for payment. Miah is also said to have lied about the value and performance of shares and failed to inform customers of the higher risks involved in buying them. The FSA said Miah's case was particularly serious because of the position of trust and that customers were exposed to significant risk of financial loss. It is the first time the FSA has issued both a fine and ban against an approved individual.

The FSA described its actions as part of wider efforts to tackle mortgage fraud, in addition to its concentrated efforts against financial crime, and for consumer and market confidence - outlined in its Financial Risk Outlook (FRO) and budget in the last month.