Citigroup suspends senior bond trader over alleged canteen theft
Citigroup has suspended one of its most senior London-based bond trader after accusing him of stealing from the office canteen.
Paras Shah abruptly left his post as head of Citi’s head of EMEA high-yield bond trading last month.
The Financial Times reported that the bank suspended Shah after alleging he had stolen food from the canteen at its Canary Wharf offices, citing four sources familiar with the matter.
Citigroup declined to comment on the story. City PM has contacted Shah for comment.
Shah was one of the highest-profile traders in Europe’s junk bond market. Shah joined Citigroup in 2017 after spending more than six years as a trader at HSBC.
According to his Linkedin profile, he holds a degree in economics from the University of Bath and joined HSBC after graduating in 2010.
British financial institutions and regulators have previously taken a tough stance on executives alleged to have engaged in personal misconduct.
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In 2016, Japan’s Mizuho Bank fired a London trader after he was caught taking a £5 chain-guard from a colleague’s bicycle.
Marius Caracota said he had taken the accessory because he thought it was his own and sued the bank over his dismissal, but lost the case last year.
In 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority banned a former Blackrock executive from senior roles in the UK’s financial sector after he was found to have repeatedly dodged train fares on his commute into the City.
Jonathan Burrows, who worked as a managing director at Blackrock Asset Management, eventually paid £43,000 to settle the case after the extent of the evasion became clear.