Naked Short-Selling Crackdown: HSBC and BNP Paribas Hit With Fines In South Korea

HSBC Holdings PLC HSBC and BNP Paribas BNPQY were hit with a fine of 26.5 billion won ($20.4 million) by South Korea for naked short-selling. 

In particular, South Korea ordered BNP Paribas to pay 11 billion won and its local brokerage unit to pay 8 billion won for naked short-selling, which is illegal in the country, as per Bloomberg.

Apart from this, the South Korean authorities fined HSBC with 7.5 billion won for naked short-selling.

“The violations were a grave matter that hurts the market order and investor trust. The naked short-selling transactions by the three parties, which lasted for months, were viewed to be “intentional,” said the Securities and Futures Commission, which functions under the FSC.

The FSC also intends to ask prosecutors to investigate the two international investment banks.

The decision is at par with the authorities’ efforts to eradicate illegal short-sellers from the local stock market and follows last week’s announcement of a full ban on short-selling by the end of June 2024. 

Apart from this, recently, the FSC hit a combined fine of 2 billion won on three unnamed global hedge funds for violations of capital markets law and a penalty of 3.9 billion won on Erste Asset Management earlier this year.

Also Read: “Keep More Of Canada’s Financial Sector Under Canadian Ownership” - Royal Bank Of Canada Cleared To Acquire HSBC’s Domestic Arm

Price Action: HSBC shares are trading higher by 0.40% at $40.43 on the last check Tuesday.

Photo by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay