NAB and UBS donate generously to financial literacy

UBS and National Australia Bank (NAB) have pledged $1 million and $2 million respectively to financial literacy projects in Australia, after a run-in with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The donations come as a result of the two banks entering into enforceable undertakings (EUs) with ASIC, following lengthy investigations into their respective misconduct.

NAB's EU relates specifically to NAB's responsibility for potential market misconduct undertaken by the trading personnel of a contractor which led to the 18 October 2012 share price spike of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) 200.

According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, NAB had agreed to adopt specific monitoring and control systems for its direct market access trading, with the regulator to supervise the certification of those systems for the next three years.

UBS's EU was in relation to potential misconduct involving the Australian Bank Bill Swap (BBSW) Rate.

"In July 2012, UBS reported to ASIC that it had found evidence of conduct seeking to influence its BBSW submissions, based on how the submissions may benefit UBS' derivatives positions," ASIC said. "In February 2013, UBS withdrew from the BBSW submissions panel."

The EU will see UBS uphold the integrity and reliability of the process surrounding the setting of Australian interest rate benchmarks, also ensuring it is in accordance with its obligations under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Orders.

The two EUs came only days after CommSec and Ausiex entered into enforceable undertakings with ASIC.