Vantage Global Prime, which provides contracts for difference (CFD) services to retail and wholesale clients, has agreed to address inadequate controls and systems in its business following an investigation by ASIC.
ASIC has accepted an EU from Vantage after the regulator identified the firm did not have in place “adequate systems and controls to identify, monitor for, prevent and respond to inappropriate use of its confidential client trading information by its employees for their own personal benefit”.
Specifically, the ASIC investigation found that a “senior employee” of Vantage used confidential client trading information to inform his/her own personal trading.
While the senior Vantage employee made a profit from accessing the confidential client information, Vantage as a business did not benefit from the trading.
There was no evidence that any Vantage clients suffered loss from the use of their confidential trading information.
Under the terms of the EU, Vantage has also undertaken to: not appoint the senior employee as a director for a period of 12 months; arrange for all its representatives to complete compliance training; and make a community benefit payment of $95,000 to The Ethics Centre.
