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PSE bans RCBC Securities trader in P126-M scam


The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Thursday said it barred from its premises a trader employed by RCBC Securities Inc. for supposedly scamming the brokerage's clients.
 
Mary Grace Valbuena, a registered trader for RCBC Securities until last December, “was permanently barred by the PSE from entering its facilities and systems due to willfully causing the unauthorized use or disposition of funds or securities entrusted to her by clients of RSI,” the bourse said in a statement.
 
The PSE fined RCBC Securities—as Valbuena’s employer—with P5 million on the following violations:  
  • Failure to supervise its Registered Salesperson Mary Grace Valbuena and to implement effective internal control procedures to prevent the unauthorized use and disposition of funds and securities entrusted by clients to RCBC Securities
  • Failure to apply the Suitability Rule in relation to SRC Rule 30.2-3(E) on Discretionary Accounts being handled by Ms. Valbuena
  • Failure to implement SRC Rule 34.1-2 on Segregation of Functions (Chinese Wall) which allowed Ms. Valbuena to gain access to documents which were found to be manipulated and reproduced by her to defraud clients of RCBC Securities and
  • Failure to ensure Ms. Valbuena's compliance with Article IV of the Amended MRD Rules or the Code of Conduct and Professional Ethics for Traders and Salesmen.
The company settled the penalty on March 21, according to the PSE.
 
PSE also obliged the securities company to provide an additional paid-up capital to cover the payment claims by its affected clients. The total claims amounted to P126 million, but the company put up an additional capital totaling P300 million.
 
The PSE also recommended that the Securities and Exchange Commission suspend the trading license of Rhodora Alberto, another employee of RCBC Securities for allegedly failing to supervise Valbuena.
 
"This is a clear demonstration of the PSE's role in enforcing good corporate governance. We would like to assure the public that the PSE will not tolerate such activities by erring personnel of trading participants," PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat said in the same statement. —With Rouchelle R. Dinglasan/VS, GMA News
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