The Financial Markets Authority has started civil proceedings against a former Milford Asset Management employee for market manipulation.

It's issued the proceedings in the High Court seeking pecuniary penalties from Mark Warminger for trading carried out between December 2013 and August 2014.

The FMA said after a thorough investigation, it's reached the view that trading by Warminger amounted to market manipulation in breach of the Securities Markets Act.

Warminger has issued a statement through his lawyer, denying he manipulated any market.

The statement said just because the FMA asserts something does not make it so - and they want people to wait until the court process is complete before drawing any conclusions.