The $88,400 penalty was for offering and allocating an ‘error trade’ to a client in “circumstances where that trade had not been obtained under instructions previously obtained from that client”.
In addition, ASIC found Credit Suisse “acted in a manner which had a detrimental effect on that Client’s best interests” and failed to maintain a separate record of the error trade.
The MDP found that on 4 September 2012, a client of Credit Suisse placed an instruction with a representative of Credit Suise to sell 2,000 September 2012 ASX 30-Day Interbank Cash Rate Futures Contracts (IBU2) at 96.510.
But the Credit Suisse representative mistakenly placed an order to sell the 2000 IBU2 at 96.505 which traded immediately, resulting in an error trade.
The representative contacted the client to explain he had made the error, but the client said it would accept the error and it would like the associated brokerage fee waived.
The cost to the client of accepting the error was $24,660. Neither the Credit Suisse representative or his supervisor completed an error report on 4 September 2012.
Credit Suisse’s compliance department later identified the error and notified ASIC.
The MDP issued Credit Suisse with a total penalty of $88,400, which the company did not contest.
