A FINANCE boss’ fall from grace is complete after he was banned from being a company director for five years.

Last year, insurance broker Graham Darby 45, was banned from trading by the Financial Services Authority amid concerns over how his firm, Ambrose Darby, was managed and how he handled clients’ premiums.

An investigation by the Insolvency Service has now led to Darby being disqualified from any involvement in company affairs until 2015.

Ambrose Darby, which traded from premises in Kenyon Road, on the Lomeshaye Industrial Estate, near Nelson, and mainly advised on commercial insurance policies, was placed into compulsory liquidation in 2009. Creditors were owed more than £159,000 and an inquiry determined that nearly £100,000 was still owed to insurance providers.

Darby, who now lives in Newport, Isle of Wight, was found to have breached a number of permissions granted to him by the FSA.

He was the venture’s only director and held more than 50 per cent of the shares. The regulator was brought in after another insurer raised concerns, with particular complaints voiced regarding Darby’s unavailability to discuss the late payments of premiums owed.

Darby told the authority that, because of a ‘disabling medical condition’, he had not been able to exercise proper control over the company’s dealings for some time.

FSA officials, conducting their own inquiries, found that clients had no idea who was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the firm.

The company had traded since 1978 but was only incorporated in 2002.