A former equities market-maker at Cazenove, Malcolm Calvert, has been convicted of five counts of insider dealing, an offence that earned him a profit of about £103,883 ($115,311) in trades that occurred between June 2003 and October 2004.

Mr Calvert was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court, the Financial Services Authority, the UK financial regulator, said in a statement yesterday; he is due to be sentenced today.

A number of cases of fraud, insider dealing and other financial misdemeanours have come to light in the past year or so, in part due to the heavy losses sustained in the credit crunch which have exposed financial wrongdoings. The FSA is also conducting a sustained campaign, it says, to stamp out such practices.

The regulator’s statement said that a key witness for the prosecution, Bertie Hatcher, provided evidence in the trial, having been involved in insider dealings himself.

“The guilty verdict is a shot across the bow for any city workers who may be tempted to trade using insider knowledge. Our message is simple: if you take part in such activity, you run a very real risk of the FSA taking criminal action against you,” said Margaret Cole, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA.

The FSA also said that it has fined Mr Hatcher, a retired bookmaker and insurance broker from Ipswich, £56,098 for market abuse, and published details of the agreement it made with him which led to his assistance in the prosecution of Mr Calvert.

“Hatcher provided valuable evidence to the FSA, not just about his own misconduct, but also in relation to Calvert. We will continue to enter into agreements of this sort where we believe it is in the public interest and interests of justice for the FSA to do so,” Ms Cole said.

The FSA found that between 2003 and 2005 Hatcher had profited from inside information, using it to buy and sell about 420,000 shares in six companies. The fine represents the full disgorgement of his share of the net profit from these trades, the FSA said.