Split-caps survivor in come-back
RODERICK “Rolly” Crawford, who has not held a senior job in the City since being implicated in the high-profile split-caps scandal two years ago, has emerged as the front-runner for the chief executive role at investment bank Fairfax.
Sources told City PM yesterday that Crawford is the favourite to take over from current Fairfax boss Stefan Allesch-Taylor. The news comes just days after Crawford emerges from a purdah imposed on him by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in 2007, following its investigation into collusion in the split-capital
investment trust sector.
Crawford, who was at the time head of investment trusts at Collins Stewart, was barred from holding senior management positions until this month, despite the fact no firms or individuals were found guilty of any regulatory breaches and nobody made an admission of guilt. It was stressed to be a “no-blame settlement”.
The ban concluded a four-year FSA investigation, taking up 62,000 man hours and costing £6.4m in legal fees.
Temporary employment bans were also doled out to Crawford’s Collins Stewart colleague Paul Glover, former BC Asset Management chief executive David Bruce and former head of BFS Investments Anthony Reid.
Allesch-Taylor is expected to step back from his role at the company in the near future to become chairman.