UBS fined £27.6m for misreporting transactions over a decade

The City watchdog has fined UBS £27.6 million for failing to report tens of millions of transactions properly over nearly a decade.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the Swiss banking giant breached the regulator’s rules by misreporting 136 million transactions between November 2007 and May 2017.

It said UBS failed to provide complete and accurate information for about 86.7 million transactions and submitted 49.1 million transactions which did not need to be reported.

The FCA also found that UBS “failed to take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively” in reporting transactions.

Mark Steward, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “Firms must have proper systems and controls to identify what transactions they have carried out, on what markets, at what price, in what quantity and with whom.

“If firms cannot report their transactions accurately, fundamental risks arise, including the risk that market abuse may be hidden.”

UBS qualified for a 30% discount after it agreed to resolve the case, otherwise the fine would have been much higher at £39.4 million.

The fine covers transactions over a period when the bank was compliant with the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, known as MiFID I, which was recast as MiFid II.

In a statement, UBS said: “We are pleased to have resolved this MiFID I legacy matter.

“Although there was never any impact on clients, investors or market users, the bank has made significant investments to enhance its transaction reporting systems and controls.”

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