The division’s investigators found that “ABN AMRO did not have any supervisory policies and procedures in place governing its potential indirect borrowing of pre-released ADRs from Pre-Release Brokers.”
Additionally, the investigators found that the firm earned approximately $326,000 from securities lending transactions with Pre-Release Brokers from January 2013 to around December 2015.
Based on their findings, ABN AMRO allegedly violated the Exchange Act and Securities Act for failing to fulfill its supervisory responsibilities and establishing and implementing adequate policies and procedures.
According to the SEC, the firm cooperated in the investigation and offered to settle the case against it. The Commission determined that it is in the public interest to accept the settlement.
15thh enforcement action arising from probes into abusive ADR pre-release practices
The Commission said ABN AMRO is the 15th firm that faced enforcement action arising from its investigation into abusive ADR pre-release practices. It already collected more than $432 million in monetary remedies from all of those cases.
