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Microcap & Penny Stocks : TGL WHAAAAAAAT! Alerts, thoughts, discussion. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CIMA who wrote (55673)	7/20/2000 7:40:58 PM
From: Jim Bishop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 150070

RY.t sheesh did you see this? Regulator fines Royal Bank C$3.15 million (UPDATE: Adds details, comment, background and byline) By Luke McCann TORONTO, July 20 (Reuters) - The investment arm of Canada's biggest bank, Royal Bank of Canada (Toronto:RY.TO - news), must pay C$3.15 million ($2.14 million) and suspend nine employees, one for life, for their involvement in a stock manipulation scandal, securities regulators said on Thursday. After a deal with the Ontario Securities Commission was approved on Thursday, RT Capital Management Inc., a fully-owned unit of Royal Bank, announced the resignation of five of its employees, including its chairman and chief executive Timothy Griffin. Portfolio manager Peter Larkin was barred from holding office ever again in Ontario. This concludes a year-long probe by regulators which led to charges last month that RT Capital traders and executives artificially inflated stock prices late in the day to enhance fund performance, a process known as ``high closing''. Commissioner John Geller, one of three panel members to approve the deal, said the settlement was in the public's best interest and it would ``send a message to senior management of companies involved in the capital market that a strong culture of compliance must be fostered at the highest levels.'' The securities commission, which had uncovered taped conversations at RT Capital indicating the illicit manipulation of stock prices at or near the market close, launched the legal proceedings on June 29. The regulators charged that RT Capital orchestrated a total of 53 ``high closings'' on 26 stocks from October 30, 1998, to March 31, 1999. In a separate incident, The Toronto Stock Exchange charged 13 other traders from 11 separate brokerage firms with breaching the Ontario Securities Act and TSE rules. The TSE settled with 12 of the traders at a separate hearing on Thursday. Another trader is fighting the charges. Michael Wilson, Canadian finance minister under former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney from 1984 to 1991, was named chairman and chief executive of RT Capital, replacing Griffin. Rt Capital employees, Michael Edwards and Jennifer Lederman, will remain with the company after serving a one month suspension. Two others will retire, the company said. All other suspensions range from three months to three years. Royal Bank, which had never been fined anywhere near this amount for breaching securities regulations, released full-page statements of apology in major newspapers across the country last week. ``The settlement clearly indicates that all of the parties have taken the matter seriously. RT Capital and the individuals involved have agreed to significant penalties, and everyone in this business has been given a strong reminder of the need to continuously improve compliance,'' John Cleghorn, Royal Bank's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement on Thursday. Royal Bank's involvement in ``high closing'' comes at a time when the Canadian banking industry is in need of a public relations makeover. Canada's big banks, which consistently report strong earnings, are not in favour with the public as a result of layoffs, rising user fees and branch closings. Nor do the banks find much sympathy in government circles. Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin vetoed two sets of merger plans by four of the country's Big Six banks in 1998, saying they were not in the public interest. Martin tabled a bill last month that forces future bank mergers to get federal approval. ($1 equals $1.47 Canadian)