Between 2001 and 2006, White stole a total of £152,372 from his then employer and a number of its private clients in 37 separate transactions, and hid £145,000 in a dormant account that had been paid to Seymour Pierce in error.

In one instance, White even transferred a personal trading loss into a Seymour Pierce account and also stole trading profits, dealing commission and credit interest belonging to his employer.

White was Settlements Manager at Seymour Pierce, and was responsible for entering details of executed trades onto the system; his role also entailed making changes to static data (such as names, addresses, and account numbers) on client accounts.

Last year the FSA fined Seymour Pierce £154,000 for failing to establish effective controls to prevent an employee committing fraud; White was that employee.

Margaret Cole, the FSA's director of enforcement and financial crime, said:

"White was a long standing employee of Seymour Pierce who misused his senior position with the firm. He exposed weaknesses in the firm's systems and used them to his advantage.

"We expect people who work in the financial services industry to behave with honesty and integrity, yet White's conduct was anything but. As this case demonstrates, we are committed to deterring behaviour of this kind by punishing anyone found to have committed such misconduct."

Seymour Pierce has returned money and assets to clients who were victims of White's fraudulent activities.