LONDON (Reuters) -BlueCrest Capital Management, the investment firm co-founded by billionaire Michael Platt, has won part of a London court battle to block an attempt by the markets watchdog to order a redress scheme for investors worth more than an estimated $700 million.
London judges said they had struck out the proposal by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ruling it lacked detail about losses suffered by customers and breaches to duties or regulatory requirements.
They said the FCA estimated the redress sum to be more than $700 million but that the regulator’s penalty decision notice demonstrated “muddled thinking”, a decision dated June 21 showed.
However, the FCA has also proposed fining the former hedge fund 41 million pounds ($52 million) in 2021 for conflict of interest failings over a fund set up for BlueCrest staff. That part of the case remains ongoing.
BlueCrest said it welcomed the decision to strike out the proposed redress case and that it would continue to defend its position vigorously. The conduct in question related to activity under a previous business model, it noted.
The FCA has said BlueCrest failed to manage fairly a conflict of interest created by switching portfolio managers working on a fund open to investors outside BlueCrest to an internal fund open to partners and employees, leading to “substandard” client service between 2011 and 2015.
The regulator declined to comment on Thursday.
($1 = 0.7853 pounds)
(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; editing by Diane Craft)
