Compliance Radar

Who was sanctioned, and for what?

Fines, court rulings and incidents from Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Middle East: 1,929 cases from 40 jurisdictions, each with an official source and checked against that source before publication. Filter by country, area of law and sector. Click a chart to drill down one level.

1case from 1 jurisdiction
€883,431Total of monetary amounts
€883,431Largest single case: UBS AG
€883,431Median per case with an amount

Click a bar to drill down one level.

When?

per quarter, by date of decision
Trend
PeriodCasesTotal
Q4 20230–
Q1 20240–
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Q4 20240–
Q1 20250–
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Q3 20250–
Q4 20251€883,431
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Q3 20260–
Q4 20260–

1 case

20 Oct 2025 UBS AGUBS: HKD 8m fine for years of misclassifying professional investors Hong KongOrganisational requirements €883,431

UBS AG was publicly reprimanded and fined 8,000,000 HKD in Hong Kong because, from 2009 to July 2022, its automated process for classifying professional investors rested on a misinterpretation of the minimum portfolio requirement for certain joint accounts. From July 2018 to July 2022 alone, 560 joint accounts were misclassified; securities of 23 of these accounts were lent in 9,190 lending transactions without valid authority, and 94 accounts carried out 500 transactions in products reserved for professional investors. In August 2021 the regulator had already fined UBS 9.8 million HKD, among other things for similar failings.

What organisations can take from it

Automated client classifications must be validated against the wording of the rules, especially for special cases such as joint accounts.

Relevance to training and awareness

Correct classification of professional investors and distribution restrictions

Authority / court
Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)
Area of law
Capital markets and financial supervision · Organisational requirements
Legal basis
s. 196 SFO (Cap. 571); s. 4 Securities and Futures (Client Securities) Rules; s. 11(3A) Securities and Futures (Contract Notes, Statements of Account and Receipts) Rules; Securities and Futures (Professional Investor) Rules; Code of Conduct
Action
Fine
Status of proceedings
final
Sector
Financial services and insurance
Employees
10,000 or more
Repeat case
yes
Mitigating circumstances
Look-back review and remediation after self-reporting, cooperation, commitment to an enhanced complaint handling procedure for potentially misclassified clients.
Published
20 Oct 2025

Original amount 8,000,000 HKD, converted at the ECB reference rate of 20 Oct 2025.

Checked against the official source on 3 Oct 2026 · Direct link

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