Former Citi Asia office trader settles case after unfair dismissal

Citigroup Inc. settled an employment lawsuit with a former trader after judges ruled he was wrongfully fired by the bank over claims he was a scapegoat for the lender’s decade-long regulatory failures to execute stock trades for clients from Asia.

Ian Weir, a former London-based Asia Pacific sales trader, agreed to settle the case before a London tribunal to decide what the bank should do to compensate for the wrongful dismissal.

Details of the agreement were not disclosed. Employment tribunals ruled last year that Weir had been unfairly and unfairly dismissed by the bank.

“There is a signed agreement and the parties agree that the plaintiff will withdraw the claim,” a lawyer for the bank said at Thursday’s hearing.

Citi has been hit with a HK$348 million ($44.8 million) fine in 2022 by Hong Kong’s securities regulator for failures to trade shares for clients between 2008 and 2018. The body oversight found that employees sent false “indications of interest” to clients about stocks. interest and made “misleading statements” about how the transactions would take place.

A Citi spokesman did not immediately comment. Weir did not respond to a request for comment.

Weir’s attorney previously said he would apply to get his job back at Citi. He sought around 100,000 pounds ($131,120) in damages for wrongful dismissal, according to court documents.

Weir’s lawyers successfully argued that he was wrongfully dismissed in June 2021 for gross misconduct following an investigation into whether some Citi traders properly disclosed the bank’s financial interest when they facilitated trades.

Citi has denied that Weir was unfairly dismissed. The bank had a reasonable belief that it had committed serious misconduct, which caused a serious breakdown in trust and confidence, according to documents prepared for the trial.

Top photo: Citigroup Inc. offices. from London. Photographer: Chris J Ratcliffe/Bloomberg.

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