UBS investment bank pays $10 Million to settle SEC charges on municipal bond offerings

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Monday that UBS Financial Services Inc. (UBSG) would pay more than $10 Million to resolve charges regarding certain municipal bond offerings.

UBS has agreed to pay the fine after SEC charged the investment banking company with circumventing the priority given to retail investors in the bond offerings for four years.

“The order finds that UBS registered representatives knew or should have known that flippers were not eligible for retail priority. In addition, the order finds that UBS registered representatives facilitated over 2,000 trades with flippers, which allowed UBS to obtain bonds for its own inventory, thereby circumventing the priority of orders set by the issuers and improperly obtaining a higher priority in the bond allocation process,” SEC said in its statement.

The Swiss-headquartered bank paid the fine without admitting or denying the findings.