UBS, the Swiss bank, has been fined £8m for system and control failures that enabled four London-based staff to use customers’ money to trade in precious metals and currencies.
UBS, the Swiss bank, has been fined £8m for system and control failures that enabled four London-based staff to use customers’ money to trade in precious metals and currencies.
The Financial Services Authority said the four worked at the bank’s wealth management business and used money from up to 39 accounts to make as many as 50 trades a day.
The fine is the third largest the financial regulator has ever imposed.
The dealing took place over nearly two years – January 2006 to December 2007 – and was only uncovered when a whistleblower at the bank raised concerns.
A UBS investigation discovered that the four were trading in foreign exchange and precious metals using customers’ money without authorisation and had allocated losses to customers’ accounts.
The bank has since paid more than $42m (£25m) in compensation to cover customers’ losses.
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