IRELAND: Settlement Agreement between the Central Bank of Ireland and Ava Capital Markets Limited for MiFID breaches

Friday March 7 2014

The Central Bank of Ireland has entered a Settlement Agreement with Ava Capital Markets, effective from 4 March 2014. The settlement is in relation to contraventions of the European Communities (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 60 of 2007) (“the MiFID Regulations”)

The Central Bank reprimanded and fined the firm a monetary penalty of €165,000.

During the period between 1 February 2010 and 32 December 2011, the following contraventions occurred:

• the Firm executed 523,389 transactions in breach of Regulation 112(3)(b) and (c), failed to report details of these to the Central Bank by the close of the following working day or reported incorrect details of those transactions.
• In breach of Regulation 33(1)(a), the Firm failed to establish adequate policies and procedures sufficient to ensure compliance with the Firm’s obligations under the MiFID Regulations, specifically its transaction reporting obligations.
• In breach of Regulation 33(1)(f), the Firm failed to ensure that it had in place and used effective control and safeguard arrangements for its information processing systems, relating to transaction reporting.
• In breach of Regulation 105(2), the Firm failed to exercise due skill, care and diligence when entering into and/or managing an arrangement for the outsourcing of operational functions relating to transaction reporting to an external service provider.
• In breach of Regulation 33(1)(e), the Firm failed to ensure that any outsourcing by the Firm of transaction reporting functions was not undertaken in such a way as to impair the quality of the Firm’s internal control or the Central Bank’s ability to monitor the Firm’s compliance with its transaction reporting obligations.

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