The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has ceased to investigate Quindell, the insurance claims processor, for irregularities in its accounts for 2013 and 2014, because of the Serious Fraud Office opening its own investigation.

The handover from one quango to another is intentional. The FCA, however, would not be drawn on the question of why it would want to cease investigating just because another quango (and, indeed, one with such a tarnished reputation) had turned its attention to the same target. Its spokesman also declined to comment on what offence the FCA suspected Quindell of committing.

Quindell and the FCA originally both announced the existence of the FCA's now-abandoned investigation on 24 June. The FCA's press release on the subject was a study in brevity.

Quindell's shares plummeted by more than 25% earlier this month when it had to restate its full-year results for 2014 and the SFO declared an interest in it for the first time. Its press release on the subject was even more taciturn than the FCA's.