BNP fined US$1.4m in Hong Kong for unreported cross trades

[HONG KONG] BNP Paribas Securities (Asia) Ltd was reprimanded and fined HK$11 million (S$1.91 million) by Hong Kong's securities regulator for failing to report more than HK$6 billion of cross trades over a 10-year period.

BNP failed to report 4,443 pairs of cross trades to the Hong Kong stock exchange from December 2002 to January 2013, the Securities and Futures Commission said in a statement on Monday. In a cross trade, buy and sell orders for the same stock are offset without recording the trade on the exchange.

The firm failed to provide the dealers responsible for the reporting with sufficient resources to discharge their duties, the regulator said. The failures were "particularly serious" as they lasted for an extended period of time and involved a large number of trades, it said.

BNP Paribas Securities (Asia) said in a statement that it had strengthened internal controls so that "the issues noted by the commission cannot be repeated."

The company said it "seeks to uphold the highest levels of regulatory compliance and looks forward to continuing to deliver a high level of service to its clients."

BLOOMBERG