On Nov. 20, ASIC announced UBS paid AUS$120,000 penalty.
- UBS Securities Ltd (UBS) paid AUS$120k to settle infringement notice penalty.
Findings
- Panel believed UBS contravened ASIC Market Integrity Rules (ASX Market) 2010.
- Transactions relating to six on-market buy-backs conducted in 2017 were not
in the ordinary course of trading/not in accordance with the clients’ instructions. - UBS purchased 18mn securities over a seven month period in relation to the buy
backs, in circumstances other than by the matching of orders on an order book. - UBS reported these transactions to ASX as trades with price improvement.
- ASIC guidance states that trades with price improvement are not considered to
be in ordinary course of trading and are not permitted for on-market buy-backs. - MDP considers that conduct by UBS was careless, internal training/controls not
sufficient/effective, but no intention to contravene the market integrity rules. - Conduct caused neither financial loss to clients/third parties nor benefited UBS
beyond the brokerage that would otherwise have been received by them. - UBS adopted remedial measures including conducting further training for traders, updating equities desk manual, implementing trade monitoring enhancements.
