Optimas Capital Limited fined $1.05m over errors in short position reports

The errors occurred because of a programming mistake, the company says.

The Securities and Futures Commission has fined Optimas Capital Limited $1.05m over failures to ensure short position reports (SPRs) for a collective investment scheme (CIS) under its management were accurate and compliant with the requirements under the Securities and Futures rules.

In its investigations, the SFC found out that a total of 350 SPRs held by the CIS had been omitted in 56 SPRs prepared and submitted by Optimas to the SFC between 23 June 2017 and 9 July 2018.

The accidental omission occurred due to a programming mistake in a script developed by its operations manager at the material time. The script in question was created to automate the process of identifying short positions held by the CIS in order to filter out those that were reportable.

However, the SFC judged that its failure to detect the programming mistake promptly was due to inadequate supervision and review over the work of its then operations manager.

“The SFC considers that Optimas had failed to act competently to ensure the SPRs it prepared would be accurate and compliant with the applicable requirements under the SPR Rules,” the SFC said.