Senior trader banned for hiding losses

A FORMER senior trader at Merrill Lynch in London has been banned for at least five years for overvaluing his trading positions to hide his losses, forcing the US bank to make a $456 million (£300m) write-down.

The Financial Services Authority yesterday said Alexis Stenfors, who worked at Merrill Lynch International Bank – now part of Bank of America – had shown a lack of integrity and was not fit or proper to perform any regulated activity.

Stenfors, who worked on the short-term interest rate trading desk of the bank's London branch, "mismarked" his positions by some $100m in the month between mid-January 2009 and mid-February 2009.