London - A rogue trader at a London oil broker caused his employer to lose 6 million pounds (10 million dollars) after making unauthorized trades, the company concerned said in a statement Friday. PVM Oil Futures said it had been a "victim of unauthorized trading" on June 30 and had launched a full investigation. It named the rogue trader as Steve Perkins and said he had been suspended.
The trades are believed to have caused a jump in oil prices on Tuesday. PVM said it was now conducting business as normal.
It had informed the Financial Services Authority (FSA) watchdog and the InterContinental Exchange, which is where much European trade takes place.
"As a result of a series of unauthorized trades, substantial volumes of futures contracts were held by PVM. When this was discovered, the positions were closed in an orderly fashion. PVM suffered a loss totalling a little under 10 million dollars," the company said in a statement.
