The Commonwealth Bank's share trading arm, Commonwealth Securities Limited (CommSec) has been penalised to the tune of $35,000 for alleged trading infringements.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed the penalty, which it said had followed on from an infringement notice issued by its Markets Disciplinary Panel for the entry of an erroneous 'Priority Crossing' in the security Oz Minerals Limited.
It was alleged that the action resulted in the market for Oz Minerals not being both fair and orderly.
ASIC's Market Disciplinary Panel said that in determining the appropriate penalty, it had taken into account a range of factors including that CommSec had an alert procedure in place, that the company had cooperated with ASIC throughout the investigation and had agreed not to contest the matter, "thereby saving time and costs that would otherwise have been expended".
The regulator also noted that it was an isolated incident and that CommSec had no recorded history of non-compliance.
