Commsec fined $55,000
Commsec has been fined $55,000 after an erroneous order for a telecommunications product skewed the market price.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) Markets Disciplinary Panel issued the penalty after finding an order for My Net Fone Limited made its way into the system that was not “fair and orderly”.
In December 2012, Commsec received a direct market access order from a client to buy 10,000 My Net Fone shares at an 'at-market’ price.
The buy/sell/last traded price was $1.005/$1.18/$0.94 immediately prior to the order.
However, according to ASIC, the Commsec designated trading representative incorrectly entered the price as $101.00 instead of the intended $1.01 into one of CommSec’s trading systems.
The order traded, but upon realising the mistake, the trading representative deleted the excess to restore it to its former price.
However, the entry still caused the MNF share price to be inflated 964 per cent, from $0.94 to $10.00.
Commsec notified the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), which agreed to delete the part of the transaction which lifted the price to $10.00.
In issuing the fine, the MDP noted it was not a deliberate breach, however it still impacted market integrity.
This was the third fine Commsec has received from ASIC’s Markets Disciplinary Panel. In 2012, it was fined $35,000 and $50,000 for two separate incidents.
AUTHOR
Kate Cowling
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