Hong Kong market watchdog fines Citi $45 million for equities misconduct

A Citibank sign is viewed exterior of a financial institution outlet in New York March 4, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Image

HONG KONG, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s marketplace regulator has fined a Citigroup (C.N) subsidiary HK$348.25 million ($45 million) for misconduct in its hard cash equities enterprise and is launching disciplinary proceedings against some former senior professionals at the bank.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) reported on Friday that some of Citigroup Worldwide Markets Asia Limited’s (CGMAL) trading desks had issued inaccurate “indications of interest” in shares to crank out shopper inquiries and had also designed misrepresentations to customers when executing some trades.

The SFC claimed senior CGMAL supervisors had attended a roundtable with the watchdog in 2014 throughout which it drew awareness to common deficiencies located in the current market, and that it experienced also issued a round in 2018 delivering even further steering.

In spite of equally these efforts, CGMAL experienced however unsuccessful to detect the misconduct or rectify its failures, the SFC said.

It mentioned it would, in due program, commence disciplinary proceedings in opposition to the previous customers of the bank’s senior administration it considered liable for CGMAL’s misconduct. It did not say how a lot of people ended up included nor identify them.

Reuters reported in 2019 that Citi had fired eight bankers and suspended three from its equities buying and selling desk in Hong Kong after an inside investigation discovered misconduct in their dealings with consumers.

“The severity of CGMAL’s failures exposed a society that inspired chasing revenue at the cost of essential specifications of honesty,” SFC Chief Government Ashley Alder stated in a statement.

“In the confront of unrelenting professional strain to solicit much more small business and maximize CGMAL’s current market share, misleading techniques were deployed at the cost of clients’ most effective curiosity and to the detriment of industry integrity,” Alder claimed.

A Citi spokesman explained the bank had held a lot more than 400 customer conversations to continue to keep them educated, rebuild associations and describe the improved controls adopted by Citi. He mentioned most, if not all, had resumed their enterprise romance with Citi.

“This resolves an difficulty relating to Citigroup World wide Markets Asia Confined functions relationship back again to 2018. We have absolutely cooperated with the SFC’s investigation and have carried out important remedial steps to bolster our compliance and internal controls,” he stated in an emailed statement.

($1 = 7.7940 Hong Kong bucks)

Reporting by Alun John Editing by David Clarke

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