Just a day after the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) said it had imposed a monetary penalty on Etrade Australia Securities Limited over an order handling infringement, the Australian regulator is again sanctioning a company for similar reasons.
D2MX Pty Ltd (D2MX) has agreed to pay a penalty of $120,000 to comply with an infringement notice given to it by the Markets Disciplinary Panel (MDP).
The penalty reflected the fact that D2MX failed to have in place organisational and technical resources, including having ‘price movement’ automated filters as appropriate for 95 direct market access (DMA) client accounts between August 2011 to March 21, 2014. The company had not implemented processes to verify that the ‘price movement’ automated filters were successfully applied to the 95 DMA clients.
The company also failed to prevent the entry into the ASX trading platform of an erroneous order which triggered a market for the price of BHP CitiFirst GSL Mini Short Warrants not being both fair and orderly.
In determining the size of the nature of the penalty and the size of the fine, the MDP took into account, amid other factors, that D2MX co-operated with ASIC throughout its investigation and did not dispute any material facts. D2MX has agreed not to contest the matter, thus saving time and costs that would otherwise have been expended.
To view the announcement from ASIC on the case, click here.