The FSA has fined London-based investment bank and stockbroker Seymour Pierce £154,000 (about $247,000) for failing to establish effective controls to guard against employee fraud.

As a result of the firm's failings, an employee was able to steal approximately £150,000 completely undetected from the firm's internal and private client accounts in 36 separate transactions over a three year period.

A number of the illicit transactions involved making unauthorised changes to static data (such as the client's name, address, bank account and payment instructions) on existing client accounts or taking advantage of dormant accounts. In one instance the employee transferred a personal trading loss into one of Seymour Pierce's internal accounts.

The employee was dismissed before the discovery of the misdemeanours by his replacement.

Seymour Pierce agreed to settle at an early stage of the investigation meaning it qualified for a 30 per cent discount

The FSA also took into account mitigating factors: Seymour Pierce co-operated fully, instigated internal reviews, implemented new systems and ensured that its affected clients were fully reimbursed.