Trader used Bloomberg service to direct selling staff on which brokers to use for share deals GUILLAUME RAMBOURG, the star trader suspended last week from Gartmore, the fund manager, used the Bloomberg instant messaging system to "direct" trades for nearly a year. Jeff Meyer, Gartmore's chief executive, said Rambourg's actions breached a company rule introduced on May 15 last year. Staff were given training sessions and asked to take a test to make sure they understood. He said, "that is what has caused us the most concern about Guillaume - it's a behavioural issue. He knew what the rules were but continued as he was before". The rule banned fund managers from telling Gartmore's trading staff which brokers to use on share deals. Before it was introduced, fund managers would use the company's own IT systems to pass messages suggesting that business be directed to a certain firm. Compliance officers discovered Rambourg had continued to make recommendations - not via the company IT system, but through the Bloomberg messaging system. All Rambourg's correspondence are now being sifted through by staff from Clifford Chance, the City law firm. Gartmore has hired the firm to conduct an independent investigation that is expected to last three weeks. Rambourg, one of the top managers of hedge fund money in the City, was suspended on Tuesday after Gartmore discussed the breaches with the Financial Services Authority. A week earlier, Gartmore shares had plunged after rumours circulated connecting it to an FSA insider-trading investigation. The shares fell even further - at one stage they were down nearly 30 per cent in a day - when the Rambourg affair was made public. They recovered to close the week at 141p. In January, Gartmore shares were at 225p. Meyer said there was no connection between the suspension and the insider-trading probe, "It had nothing at all to do with it". People had made the connection because one of those arrested in the FSA sweep, Clive Roberts of BNP Paribas, had been a broker to Roger Guy, another of Gartmore's star fund managers and a close colleague of Rambourg's. Meyer said he was concerned about investors pulling their money from Gartmore funds, although he said there had been no large withdrawals yet, "we will suffer outflows from this". Rambourg said he would co-operate with the investigation, "I accept Gartmore's reason for instigating this investigation and I am co-operating fully. I am sorry if my actions have inadvertently caused colleagues and clients uncertainty".