Walz escapes ban in SFA deal

Mary Walz, the former Barings executive, has escaped being banned from working in the City after reaching a settlement with the Securities and Futures Authority (SFA). However, it is understood that she will have to contribute a small amount to the SFA's costs for investigating the case against her.

Full details of the settlement could be published as early as today. Ms Walz was unavailable for comment yesterday, and the SFA would not confirm that a settlement had been reached.

Confirmation of the settlement would come barely a month after Ron Baker, her boss and the former head of derivatives trading at Barings, took the SFA to a tribunal and escaped a possible ban from holding a senior position in the City.

He was reprimanded and ordered to pay costs of pounds 7,500 over his supervision of Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who brought Barings to its knees. Ms Walz, however, is likely to face paying lower costs than those levied on Mr Baker.

The tribunal found in Mr Baker's favour in four of the five cases put before it by the SFA. He was given a public reprimand over the fifth charge concerning the supervision of Barings' proprietary trading.

Ms Walz, 36, an American who lives in London, last week failed in an industrial tribunal claim to be paid a pounds 500,000 bonus that had been promised to her by Andrew Tuckey, the former deputy chairman of Barings.

The bonus promise was made just 13 hours before the bank collapsed early last year due to losses of more than pounds 800m run up as Leeson bet the bank on the Asian markets.