
Credit Suisse hit with £5.6m fine
Systems and controls failings warrant a multimillion-pound fine from the FSA
LONDON – The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined the UK operations of Credit Suisse £5.6 million for breaching FSA Principles 2 and 3 by failing to conduct their business with due skill, care and diligence, and failing to organise and control their business effectively.
Credit Suisse released its financial results for 2007 on February 12 this year. On February 19, Credit Suisse announced that it had identified mismarking and pricing errors by a small number of traders and that it was repricing certain asset-backed securities. The re-pricing involved a writedown of revenues by $2.65 billion.
The breaches related to the pricing of certain asset-backed securities held by the structured credit group (SCG) within Credit Suisse’s investment banking division. The SCG specialises in complex, high-risk structured products.
FSA Principle 2 states that “a firm must conduct its business with due skill, care and diligence,” while FSA Principle 3 states that “a firm must take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems”. Credit Suisse has been fined for breaching both principles. According to the FSA: “In breach of Principle 2, the [Credit Suisse] subsidiaries failed adequately to supervise the business of the SCG and did not act in a timely way on the concerns they had identified about the pricing of certain asset-backed positions”.
And, “in breach of Principle 3, adequate systems and controls were not put in place by the subsidiaries, which meant that they failed to recognise, for approximately five months, that certain of the SCG’s asset-backed positions were wrongly valued”.
“The penalty reflects our tougher stance on enforcement and our policy of imposing higher penalties to achieve credible deterrence,” says Margaret Cole, director of enforcement at the FSA. “It is imperative, particularly in more challenging financial conditions, that firms have in place appropriate systems and controls to manage their risks. The subsidiaries here failed to take appropriate steps to control the potentially high-risk combination in the structured credit group’s holdings of exotic products, opaque valuations and high leverage.
“The sudden and unexpected announcement of the writedown had the potential to undermine market confidence.”
The subsidiaries co-operated fully with the FSA and agreed to settle at an early stage of the FSA’s investigation. As such, they have qualified for a discount under the FSA’s settlement discount scheme, which the fine of £5.6 million reflects.
Credit Suisse commissioned a detailed review of the causes of the writedown, which identified serious failures in the subsidiaries’ controls over the SCG, and the operation and management of those controls, and concluded they were not effective. Senior management accepted the findings of the review and a comprehensive remedial programme is under way.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@risk.net or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.risk.net/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@risk.net
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@risk.net
More on Regulation
FRTB may bite harder for Europe’s CVA modellers
Farther reach of advanced approach and lighter load on total requirements mean limited takeaways from Canada and Japan’s implementation
Can Europe’s FRTB refurb bring banks back to Club IMA?
Softening the NMRF regime permanently might have the most impact, but the output floor still hurts
Japan, Basel III and the pitfalls of being on time
Capital floor phase-in delay may be least-worst option for JFSA as US and Europe waver
Gould stands by OCC decision to end exams for reputation risk
Comptroller nominee also blames SVB failure on poor supervision, not tailoring rule
Adapting FRTB strategies across Apac markets
As Apac banks face FRTB deadlines, MSCI explores the insights from early adopters that can help them align with requirements
UBS takes standardised approach for FRTB – for now
Swiss bank is one of the largest to drop internal models; sources say it could switch later
Industry fears Emir 3.0 fast model approval will cause delays
More model changes could be caught by proposed criteria for defining significance
No need for repo clearing ‘cannon’ in Europe, says industry
Observers question rationale for a clearing mandate, calling for clearer incentives