The Sanctions Commission of SIX Group AG has announced imposing sanctions on Swissquote Group Holding SA with a CHF 75’000 fine for a breach of ad hoc publicity provisions.
The SIX exchange revealed that the sanctions were imposed due to an announcement Swissquote published on 16 June 2021.
The official announcement stated:
Thanks to outstanding growth, Swissquote expects record half-year results.
SIX Exchange Regulation AG (SER), one of SIX trading venues’ regulating bodies., opened an investigation into the publication on 2 June 2022. The decision to sanction Swissquote was made on 29 November and a fine was imposed in the amount of CHF 75,000.
SIX stated:
Mainly due to a technical issue and human error, the distribution of the ad hoc announcement dated 16 June 2021 was not in compliance with Art. 7 et seqq. DAH.
In its response, Swissquote points out that SIX Sanctions Commission had recognized that the press release from 16 June 2021 had been distributed broadly and had questioned that it took almost a year after the incident for SER to open a formal investigation.
