The FCA has fined Aviva Investors Global Services Limited (Aviva) £17.6 million, including a 30 per cent discount, for weaknesses in their systems and controls that meant that Aviva were unable to manage conflicts of interest properly and fairly. These failings resulted in breaches of Principles 3 and 8 of the FCA’s Principles for Businesses.
Between August 2005 and June 2013, Aviva operated a ‘side-by-side’ management strategy on particular desks within its fixed income division, so that funds that paid differing levels of performance fees were managed by the same desk.
There were procedures in place but traders could delay the recording of trades and allocate trades to particular funds to favour the business or their own personal interests – an abuse practice known as ‘cherry picking’.
The FCA found that Aviva’s systems and controls contained serious weaknesses.
As a result, two former fixed income traders delayed recording the allocation of executed trades for several hours without being detected.
To ensure that the funds were not affected by this behaviour, Aviva paid compensation of £132 million to eight impacted funds.
The FCA noted that Aviva’s level of cooperation during the investigation was exemplary.
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