Malaysia's central bank takes action against firm over ringgit trade

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is reminding all financial institutions to observe reporting obligations imposed under the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA) particularly on the requirement to promptly notify the central bank of any significant findings.

In a statement today, BNM said it has initiated enforcement actions under the FSA against a financial institution for failure to promptly notify BNM of a significant audit finding in relation to its dealers' misconduct involving the fixing of the USD/MYR exchange rate.

"The finding indicates that there were communications with traders from other foreign financial institutions which included inappropriate references to the fixing rate submission process," it said.

In this regard, the central bank said it had commenced the due process as stipulated under the FSA.

BNM said it views such reporting breaches seriously, especially on financial institutions' involvement with offshore ringgit non-deliverable forward (NDF) market or any activities that relate to market manipulation.

The central bank said it will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement actions against any other financial institutions which have breached provisions under the FSA.

The enforcement actions may include the imposition of monetary penalties, issuance of a written order to comply, making public reprimands and issuance of a written order to mitigate or remedy such breaches, said BNM. -- Bernama