Broker JP Morgan Securities has paid a $775,000 fine for allegedly permitting suspicious client orders to be placed on the futures market, ASX 24 without contesting the charges by financial regulator ASIC.
Following ASIC's investigation, the Markets Disciplinary Panel (MDP) found JPMSAL should have suspected 36 orders placed by a client between January 11, 2022 and March 3, 2022 were submitted with the intention of creating a false or misleading appearance with respect to the market for, or the price of, the Eastern Australia Wheat futures January 2023 (WMF3) contracts.
"There are real world consequences for this sort of behaviour which is why tackling manipulation in energy and commodities derivatives markets has been an ASIC priority," ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court says. "Farmers use these contracts to manage wheat price fluctuations which can affect what Australians pay at the checkout."
JPMSAL's failure to identify its client's trading as suspicious was "careless" and should have acted more expeditiously when alerted to it by ASIC, it was found.
JPMSAL cooperated with ASIC's investigation and did not contest its breach of rules. However, compliance with the infringement notice is not an admission of guilt or liability.
