Mining banker faces market abuse fine Ian Hannam (centre) is known as "the king of mining M&A" due to his involvement in almost every large deal in the sector Ian Hannam, the JPMorgan Cazenove investment banker who changed the shape of the FTSE 100 by bringing emerging markets commodities groups to London, resigned on Tuesday morning in order to contest a Financial Services Authority decision to fine him £450,000 for market abuse. The FSA said it had decided to fine Mr Hannam, chairman of equity capital markets at JPMorgan Cazenove, over two emails he sent in September and October 2008, which the regulator regarded as containing insider information on an oil company for which his bank was lead adviser. IN Financial Services A former member of the SAS, Mr Hannam spent more than 20 years at Cazenove and helped create its joint venture with JPMorgan, advising on more than 300 deals in 40 countries. He was known as "the king of mining M&A" because of his involvement in almost every large transaction in the natural resources sector for the past decade. He is still advising Xstrata on its merger with Glencore to create a $90bn natural resources champion. Xstrata has been a client of JPMorgan Cazenove since its 2002 flotation, with Mr Hannam as the main adviser. Mr Hannam has exercised his right to refer the FSA's decision to the upper tribunal, which could overturn it, vary it or affirm it. In a statement, he said: "I am appealing a decision notice issued by the FSA today and have consequently decided to resign from JPMorgan. I will complete my current client commitments and ensure a smooth handover of responsibilities. Appealing the case while still at the firm would be an unfair distraction to my clients and colleagues. In what is one of the most high-profile actions against a City banker, Mr Hannam was found to have misused information he obtained in his position as an adviser to Heritage Oil. In a statement the regulator said: "In the FSA's opinion, Hannam disclosed inside information in two emails sent in September and October 2008 to a prospective client. The emails contained inside information relating to Heritage, an existing JPMorgan client for which Hannam was the lead adviser. The decision notice states that the FSA accepts that Hannam did not set out to commit market abuse but considers that Hannam's failings were serious in view of his experience and senior position within JPMorgan. But Mr Hannam contends that the Heritage information was not precise or price sensitive enough to constitute inside information and that if the oil find had constituted material information, Heritage would have been obliged to disclose it. Mr Hannam said in his statement: "I strongly believe, and have been advised by my legal counsel, that the FSA's conclusions are wrong and I look forward to challenging them in an independent tribunal." Mr Hannam remains an authorised person and the FSA found he did not personally gain from his actions. The FSA also said in the final notice that his "honesty and integrity is not in question." The appeals process is expected to take between 12 and 18 months. Emilio Saracho, head of the investment bank, announced Mr Hannam's resignation in a letter to JPMorgan staff that made no mention of the FSA action and lauded Mr Hannam for his "many contributions to the firm." Mr Hannam is the fifth market professional this year to be fined for violations of the FSA's policies on keeping deal information confidential. Three people including former Bank of America Merrill Lynch broker Andrew Osborne were fined in connection with information given to hedge fund manager David Einhorn, and Nicholas Kyprios, head of European credit sales at Credit Suisse, was fined for "playing charades" with a client about the identity of a pending debt issuer. The publication of fines that are being appealed is a relatively new step for the FSA and part of a broader effort to make the disciplinary process more transparent and speed up disclosure of the results of FSA investigations.