London: UK's Financial Services Authority has
imposed a fine of eight million pounds on Swiss banking major
UBS, for failing to stop its employees from carrying out
unauthorised transactions.
The British regulatory body today said in a statement, it
has fined UBS as much as eight million pounds for "systems and
controls failures that enabled four employees to carry out
unauthorised transactions involving customer money on at least
39 accounts".
According to the agency, the unauthorised activity took
place between January 2006 and December 2007 at UBS'
London-based wealth management business. But the same came to
light only when a whistle blower raised concerns internally.
Investigations revealed that UBS employees had taken part
in the trading of foreign exchange and precious metals using
customer money without authorisation and allocated losses to
customers' accounts.
The statement noted that the eight million pounds fine is
the third largest the FSA has ever imposed.
"The penalty, one of the largest fines we have levied,
reflects our tougher enforcement stance and our policy of
imposing steep penalties to achieve credible deterrence.
"These employees were able to take advantage of UBS'
inadequate systems and controls, giving them free rein to make
unauthorised trades with customer money that they were then
able to conceal," FSA director of enforcement and financial
crime, Margaret Cole said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 05, 2009, 22:55