ASIC says it has today commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court in Melbourne against Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) for unconscionable conduct and market manipulation in relation to Westpac’s involvement in setting the bank bill swap reference rate (BBSW) in the period 6 April 2010 and 6 June 2012.
The BBSW is the primary interest rate benchmark used in Australian financial markets, administered by the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA). On 27 September 2013, AFMA changed the method by which the BBSW is calculated. The conduct that the proceedings relate to occurred before the change in methodology.
It is alleged that Westpac traded in a manner intended to create an artificial price for bank bills on 16 occasions during the period of 6 April 2010 and 6 June 2012.
ASIC alleges that on these days Westpac had a large number of products which were priced or valued off BBSW and that it traded in the bank bill market with the intention of moving the BBSW higher or lower. ASIC alleges that Westpac was seeking to maximise its profit or minimise its loss to the detriment of those holding opposite positions to Westpac’s.
ASIC is seeking declarations that Westpac contravened s.12CA, s.12CB and the former s.12CC of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) (ASIC Act), s.912A(1), s.1041A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act).
Further, ASIC has sought from the court pecuniary penalties against Westpac and an order requiring Westpac to implement a compliance program.
ASIC will be making no further comment at this time.
Background
On 4 March 2016, ASIC commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court against the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) (refer: 16-060MR).
Prior to filing against ANZ, ASIC’s investigations into misconduct in the BBSW has seen ASIC accept enforceable undertakings from UBS-AG, BNP Paribas and the Royal Bank of Scotland (refer: 13-366MR, 14-014MR, 14-169MR). The institutions also made voluntary contributions totalling $3.6 million to fund independent financial literacy projects in Australia.
In July 2015, ASIC published Report 440, which addresses the potential manipulation of financial benchmarks and related conduct issues.
