Former Bytes Technology Group CEO Neil Murphy has expressed his relief after confirming the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has closed its enquiry into him.
Murphy abruptly resigned from the LSE-listed software and cloud services giant in February after admitting he had made a number of undisclosed share trades.
The FCA’s subsequent preliminary enquiry into his regulatory breach of the Market Abuse Regulations has now formally concluded, Murphy told IT Channel Oxygen.
The regulator has closed its case with no sanctions against him, while clarifying the areas of concern that his actions had raised, IT Channel Oxygen understands.
Both Bytes Technology Group and the FCA declined to comment.
“Free to pursue opportunities”
Murphy said he was “thankful and pleased that it is now all behind me” and that he can now “pursue new professional challenges”.
“After 40 years of work I’ve been enjoying my free time but was never able to fully relax with the FCA enquiry hanging over my head,” Murphy said.
“It still doesn’t detract from the unease that sits with me due to the issues I caused my old colleagues, but at least we can all move forward now.
“So now I am free to pursue the opportunities that have been presented to me if I choose to do so.”
Murphy grew Bytes Technology Group from a £30m-turnover business to a market goliath with sales of £1.8bn, overseeing its acquisition of rival Phoenix Software in 2017 and its stock market flotation in 2020. It ranked 4th in IT Channel Oxygen’s recent Oxygen 250.
He resigned in February after admitting to engaging in 119 unauthorised and undisclosed share trades between January 2021 and November 2023.
Bytes Technology Group’s board completed its own investigation into the circumstances related to Murphy’s resignation in May.
It found “no evidence that Mr Murphy’s share dealing involved any other parties, nor any evidence of a wider pattern of misconduct by Mr Murphy impacting or implicating any of BTG’s staff, customers or suppliers”.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
