Credit Suisse, the largest Swiss bank, has sacked a rogue trader in London who reportedly amassed hundreds of millions of pounds of unauthorised trades, British financial regulators confirmed yesterday.

The Securities and Futures Authority (SFA) has received a report on the affair from the bank, an SFA spokesman said, but he added that no decision had yet been taken on whether or not to initiate an investigation.

The trader, Mr Philip Penner, had run up a position on the options market of £400 million although his employer had only authorised him to conduct trades of up to £40 million. Credit Suisse is believed to have limited the losses to £10 million by liquidating the positions immediately after the trader admitted his unauthorised activities to senior staff. The bank declined to confirm these figures.