Swiss multinational investment bank UBS has reportedly been fined HKD $400M ($51m) by Hong Kong’s securities regulator for overcharging around 5,000 clients.
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) claimed the bank had overcharged clients on post-trade spread increases and charges higher than standard disclosures from 2008 through to 2017, according to a report from Reuters.
During an investigation into UBS, SFC believes it uncovered serious control faults and UBS had not revealed conflicts of interests and overcharged clients in certain trades. There are believed to be around 5,000 customers to be affected across 28,700 transactions.
The incident occurred in the bank’s wealth management division on bond and structured notes transactions, it said. It is alleged UBS increased the spread charged after execution of trades, without informing clients of doing so.
In addition to the fine, UBS is to pay the clients HKD $200m ($26m).
It was also revealed the bank had falsified various account statements to financial intermediaries who were allowed to trade for clients and to hide overcharges, the article claims.
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