Market Integrity Update - Issue 102 - March 2019
- ob体育聽Annual Forum 2019
-
Update on implementing the Royal Commission鈥檚 recommendations
- Former Sydney FX trader sentenced
- Director of Foster Stockbroking banned for three years
Industry funding payments overdue
We鈥檇 like to remind our regulated entities that your industry funding invoices were due for payment by 15 March 2019.
We encourage the prompt payment of your invoice to avoid incurring penalties, which are calculated at 20% per annum of the overdue amount.
This is the first year we鈥檒l recover most of our regulatory costs from the industries we regulate 鈥� around 90% of our regulatory activities will be recovered in the form of industry funding levies, with the remaining 10% recovered via 鈥榝ees for service鈥�.
Invoices were issued either via the ob体育 Regulatory Portal (to those who registered), or by mail to the registered company address.
The levies payable by industry subsectors were summarised and published in December 2018. The detailed methodology for how we calculate levies for each industry sector is outlined in the .
- Read more about our industry funding arrangements
ob体育 Annual Forum 2019
The ob体育 Annual Forum will be held at the Hilton Sydney from 16鈥�17 May 2019.
The forum will be held in conjunction with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and brings together thought leaders from Australia and around the world.
This year鈥檚 theme, 鈥極ther people鈥檚 money鈥�, will focus on how we can ensure that the financial industry stays true to its primary function of serving the community, consumers and society.
Over two days, we鈥檒l also explore how the financial industry can orient itself to focus on the end user, and how financial market participants can ensure they meet public expectations when dealing with other people鈥檚 money.
is open until 12 April 2019, as well as tickets to the Annual Dinner on 16 May 2019.
- Read more about the ob体育 Annual Forum
Update on implementing the Royal Commission鈥檚 recommendations
We鈥檝e released an update on our planned actions responding to the of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (the Royal Commission).
The Royal Commission鈥檚 recommendations reinforce and will inform the implementation of steps we鈥檙e taking as part of a strategic program of change that commenced in 2018 to strengthen our governance and culture, and to realign our enforcement and regulatory priorities. This update also provides a progress report on those changes.
This update is a crucial document as it highlights the important work we鈥檝e done to place ourselves on a more effective strategic footing, including creating a functionally separate Office of Enforcement.
There are 12 recommendations that are directed at ob体育, or where the Government鈥檚 response requires action now by ob体育, which do not need legislative change. We鈥檙e committed to fully implementing each of these.
- Read the media release
Former Sydney FX trader sentenced
Former Sydney Deutsche Bank FX options and futures trader, Andrew Donaldson, was sentenced to 18 months鈥� imprisonment after pleading guilty to falsifying entries in Deutsche Bank鈥檚 internal financial records and systems.
The sentence was fully suspended and Mr Donaldson was released on a good behaviour condition for two years and a security sum of $10,000.
Between 25 July 2013 and 25 June 2014, Mr Donaldson made a total of 85 false entries into Deutsche Bank鈥檚 internal records. By making these entries, Mr Donaldson falsely represented to Deutsche Bank that he made substantial profits of more than A$31 million from his trading in financial products, including US Treasury Note Futures.
As detailed in the agreed facts on sentence, the direct or indirect advantage that Mr Donaldson sought to gain by recording these false transactions was to falsely increase his recorded profit, and to mask his actual trading losses. He was then potentially able to meet his annual revenue budget, be eligible for larger incentive payments, and promote himself to a prospective employer.
As the entries related to trades that were fictitious and never executed in the market, no external parties were affected.聽聽
- Read the media release
Director of Foster Stockbroking banned for three years
We鈥檝e banned Mark Hinsley from providing financial services for three years, and remind financial service providers that we鈥檒l act against those who engage in conduct which undermines the integrity of our markets.
Our investigation into Mr Hinsley, a director of Foster Stockbroking Pty Ltd (FSB), raised concerns about conduct relating to the allocation of shares in the initial public offering (IPO) of Reffind Ltd (RFN) and the publication by FSB of a research report in relation to RFN.
FSB was the sole lead manager for the IPO of RFN, a small cap technology company, in July 2015. The RFN IPO was heavily over-subscribed.
We found that Mr聽Hinsley engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct contrary to s1041H(1)聽of the Corporations Act by failing to disclose to RFN that a proportion of聽their shares had been allocated to nominee accounts聽controlled by Mr Hinsley and fellow FSB directors. Also, the research report, which was authored by Mr Hinsley, contained estimates and assumptions that had no reasonable grounds.
Mr Hinsley was Head of Investment Banking for FSB. He was principally responsible for providing corporate advisory services to RFN as well as having a material personal holding in RFN at the relevant time. 聽Mr聽Hinsley was involved in FSB contravening its general obligations as a聽financial services licensee to act fairly and to have adequate arrangements to manage conflicts of interest in authoring the research聽report.
The banning orders for Mr Hinsley have been recorded on our publicly available .
- Read the media release