Stockholm Stock Exchange’s Disciplinary Committee fines Danske Bank

Danske Bank A/S has contravened the rules of the Stockholm Stock Exchange by placing orders on behalf of its customers at prices considerably deviating from the current market value. In one case, the bank acquired shares on its own behalf at this lower price which the bank had entered into the trading system. Stockholm Stock Exchange’s Disciplinary Committee has therefore decided to fine Danske Bank SEK 200,000 and has issued a warning to a broker at Danske Bank. Danske Bank is a member of the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Exchange members must comply with the Norex Member Rules, NMR. According to these rules, any party who places an order into the Stockholm Stock Exchange trading system to acquire or sell shares must make sure the order reflects the current market value of the share in question. To establish the current market value, for instance, changes in the share price during the current and previous trading days must be taken into account. Exchange trading is also governed by the commission law, which states that a member of the exchange which acquires a customer’s shares is not allowed to do so at a price lower than the current market price. On April 10, 2006, Danske Bank placed orders regarding shares in Boliden, Munters, Volvo, Vostok Nafta and West Siberian Resources on behalf of its customers. These orders were placed on levels considerably deviating from the closing prices of the previous trading day. Thereby the orders did not reflect the current market value, which meant that the NMR rules had been contravened. As for the shares in Munters, the bank had placed a sell order on behalf of a customer, with a lower limit of SEK 228, despite a closing price of SEK 261 on the previous day of business. The bank then placed a purchase order for SEK 229 on its own behalf and thereby acquired 350 shares at this price. Thereby the bank contravened the rules of the commission law. The Disciplinary Committee found that Danske Bank has disregarded the NMR as well as the commission law and thus fined the company SEK 200,000 and issued a warning to the broker. For more information, please contact: Ulrika Areskog, Communications Manager, Stockholm Stock Exchange +46-8-405 63 76