A former equities trader at Schroders has been charged by the UK financial watchdog with insider trading over a nine-year period.

Damian Clarke was charged with nine counts of insider trading between October 2003 and November 2012, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said yesterday. He has been bailed to appear before a magistrates’ court next week. The FCA added that the allegations relate to trading in both equities and spread bets.

Mr Clarke, Stamford, Lincolnshire, who worked at Schroders between 2000 and 2013, was arrested by the watchdog with another man and three women in January 2013. The FCA said it had dropped its investigation into the other suspects. They were arrested after raids across London, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and north Yorkshire.

Andrea Clarke, a solicitor for Mr Clarke at CCW, declined to comment.

Schroders, the 200-year- old City institution that provides investment management and private banking services for institutional and retail clients, said it was not subject to any FCA investigation, which “related entirely to this individual’s personal actions”, and that no client suffered any financial detriment.

It added that Mr Clarke had been fired in February 2013.

– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014)