Swiss watchdog says Basler KB broke rules, orders repayment of illegal profits

Basler Kantonalbank

21/11/2013 05:56

ZURICH, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Basler Kantonalbank (BKB) BSKP.S  broke market rules by propping up the price of its own participation certificates and will have to repay illegally generated profits, the Swiss financial market watchdog said. Supervisory authority FINMA discovered "significant irregularities" in trading of the bank's certificates during an investigation and initiated enforcement proceedings in May, it said in a statement on Thursday.  FINMA said it was imposing special conditions on BKB and was ordering illegally generated profits amounting to 2.64 million Swiss francs to be refunded. BKB said it had already taken measures to address the concerns expressed by FINMA. (Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by John Stonestreet) ((silke.koltrowitz@thomsonreuters.com)(+41 58 306 7454)(Reuters Messaging: silke.koltrowitz.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: BASLER KB FINMA