A City investment banker may be jailed after posing as a university undergraduate to help a student to cheat his way to success in a series of final-year economics examinations.

Jerome Drean, 34, the former head of European equity derivatives trading at Credit Suisse, was arrested at the University of York while using a false identity to impersonate the 22-year-old economics student.

The French banker, who has also held a senior position with the Bank of America, was pretending to be Elnar Askerov, an Azerbaijani undergraduate. He is believed to have sat up to eight crucial exams, using a false identity card, before university authorities realised that he was an impostor.

The university is now planning to introduce new technology to clamp down on exam cheats. It is understood that one option under consideration is a fingerprint recognition system.

The move follows an extraordinary day at the university in May last year when two impostors were found to be sitting the same three-hour exam on behalf of different students.

The scam by Askerov and Drean was uncovered on the day that another York economics student, Qiu Shi Zhang, 23, had persuaded his friend and fellow Chinese student, Xin Zhang, 24, to sit the business finance paper on his behalf.

Students’ identities are checked against their photographic ID cards before they are allowed to sit any exam and the Chinese pair made two crucial blunders.

Xin, who is short, skinny and bespectacled, bore little resemblance to the ID photograph of Qiu, who was tubby and long-haired, which immediately alerted invigilators.

It also emerged later that Xin had little knowledge of economics and had no idea how to answer any of the complex questions.

Xin and Qiu, who was said to have resorted to desperate measures after suffering something of a breakdown under the pressure of his finals, were each sentenced to 100 hours of community service last May after admitting charges of fraud and aiding and abetting fraud respectively.

Askerov and Drean appeared at York Crown Court yesterday, where they pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the university between January and May last year.

They were told by Judge Stephen Ashurst that they may face a far more serious punishment than the Chinese students. The maximum sentence for their offence is ten years in prison.

The judge said: “This is an unusual and serious case of dishonesty. I want you to both understand, and you are clearly intelligent men, that all sentencing options including custody will be considered.”

Like Xin and Qiu, Askerov and Drean bear little physical resemblance. The French banker is pale-skinned and slim, in contrast to the heavily built, dark-skinned Askerov.

It is not known what persuaded Drean, who had a highly paid job in the City, to take such a risk on the student’s behalf. Drean also pleaded not guilty to acquiring £16,000 of criminal property and possessing £4,000 of criminal property. Those charges were ordered to lie on file.

Sentencing was adjourned. Drean, who lives abroad, and Askerov, of London, were granted unconditional bail.

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