UK Tribunal ruling on UBS brings rich Indians under lens

May 31, 2012

USB_brings_rich

Mumbai, May 31: Sachin Karpe would have never imagined that an innocuous $5,000 transfer from a friend's UBS offshore bank account to his personal bank account in Mumbai would come back to haunt him and the wealth advisory business his wife, along with three others, runs in the city.

The unidentified NRI friend, who was travelling to India, had moved the money from his UBS account to Karpe's account in a European bank's Mumbai branch. This single transaction triggered investigations that backfired on UBS and pointed out how Karpe and his colleagues helped ADAG entities violate Indian securities regulations.

Also, for the first time, the role that Swiss banks play in irregular transactions in Indian stock markets came to the fore.

"The use of FII structures for Indian resident investors was commonplace within UBS and that was well known to senior management," said the UK Upper Tribunal verdict in the case Karpe vs FSA, the British regulator.

The FII structure, set up by UBS, used funds from the Swiss bank's accounts to invest in offshore derivatives issued against stocks of ADAG group companies. The tribunal ruling has deepened suspicions of sharp practices that wealthy Indians and local business houses often indulge in.

"The FII structures were in relatively widespread use within UBS; for example, there had been 14 "cells" of the fund and only one had been the subject of the present allegation of misconduct," said the tribunal.

UBS Distances Itself

Multi-cell FIIs - through which select investors could route money separately without revealing their identities - were banned a few years ago when the Indian capital market regulator had a whiff of such transactions.

But, when ET contacted UBS, the bank preferred to distance itself from these transactions. Mark Panday, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for UBS said, "The fund structures used by the former employees in London during the relevant period were not approved or permitted by UBS."

"The conduct of Ms (Laila) Karan (who worked at the Asia-II desk) and Mr Karpe was in clear breach of UBS policies and procedures. Both Ms Karan and Mr Karpe were dismissed by UBS for gross misconduct. UBS has fully co-operated with the regulatory action taken by the FSA against them and notes the decisions of the Upper Tribunal to uphold that action. We are satisfied with the outcome and this matter is now closed," he said.

Like UBS, Altamount Capital, the wealth management and family office shop that Sachin Karpe's wife Richa runs would like to distance itself from the former Swiss Bank official. "Sachin has no direct connection with Altamount Capital in any manner barring that he is a consultant with Altamount," she told ET some time back.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 5,2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Ayodhya to lay the foundation of the Ram temple. He participated in the bhoomi poojan rituals at the temple site and offered prayers. He will shortly lay the foundation of the temple with a sliver brick.

From Varanasi to Tamil Nadu, many devotees have sent gifts for the ceremony, like silver bricks and coins.

Special prayers were started on Monday and will culminate with the PM laying the foundation stone for the temple. The city has been decorated with paintings depicting scenes from the Ramayana. The Uttar Pradesh government has also made elaborate security arrangement for the event.

Apart from the state police, the NSG commandos have also been kept on stand-by. The invitations for the ceremony have been kept limited due to the coronavirus pandemic. Veteran BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will witness the event from New Delhi via video-conferencing.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 24,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 24: The month of Ramzan will be observed from Friday in Kerala.
The crescent moon was seen at Kappad beach in Kozhikode on Thursday.

Amid nationwide lockdown in the wake of COVID-19, there will be no group prayers at mosques. The devotees have been directed to offer prayers at homes.

Palayam Mosque Imam, VP Suhaib said, "Usually at mosques in Thiruvananthapuram, devotees used to come to break the fast... But this year, amid lockdown, we direct people to prepare food at home and break the fast with family. Also, there will not be group prayers at mosques. People should pray at home."
"Imams and scholars have strictly directed people to observe all Ramzan-related prayers at home. There is no other option... Human life is the most important thing. Only if life exists, belief and religion can exist," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on March 24 announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19. Later, the lockdown was extended till May 3.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 13,2020

Mumbai, Mar 13:  Investor wealth worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore was wiped out in less than 15 minutes of trading on the stock exchanges on Friday, with the two benchmarks, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, crashing over 10 per cent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted 3,380.59 points, or 10.31 per cent, to 29,397.55. It hit an intra-day low of 29,388.97, falling up to 3,389.17 points.

Trading was halted for 45 minutes in the early session after the index hit its lower circuit limit.

The BSE and NSE benchmark indices, however, pared most losses with the Sensex trading 835.40 points, or 2.55 per cent, lower at 31,942.74, and the Nifty was down 253.25 points or 2.64 per cent at 9,336.90 at 10.40 am.

The mayhem on Dalal Street eroded investor wealth worth Rs 12,92,479.88 crore, taking the total m-cap to Rs 1,12,78,172.75 crore on the BSE at 1020 hours.

The m-cap of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 1,25,70,652.63 crore at the end of trading on Thursday.

Traders said besides global selloff, incessant foreign fund outflows also weighed on investor sentiments.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,475.29 crore on Thursday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

On the BSE, 1,279 scrips declined, while 193 advanced and 40 remained unchanged.

Volatility heightened in global markets as benchmarks world over went into panic mode, insinuating a freakish selloff.

Bourses in Shanghai dropped over 3.32 per cent, Hong Kong 5.61 per cent, Seoul 7.58 per cent and Tokyo cracked up to 7.97 per cent.

Wall Street lost 10 per cent in overnight trade.

More than 1,30,000 cases of the novel coronavirus have been recorded in 116 countries and territories, killing at least 4,900 people.

The number of coronavirus patients in India has risen to 74, as per the health ministry.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.