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Forex Bank has not managed the risks associated with Panaxia’s cash management. There was a complete lack of control and follow up in the partnership and Forex is therefore receiving its second warning and an administrative fine of SEK 50 million.
Forex Bank used companies from the Panaxia Group (Panaxia) to handle the bank’s cash. Despite the fact that cash management is Forex’s core operations, the bank never monitored how Panaxia was handling the assignment. As a result, the bank never identified the deficiencies in Panaxia’s reporting, which meant that, on several occasions, Panaxia was handling significantly more cash than Forex was aware. When Panaxia declared bankruptcy, Forex had funds totalling SEK 180 million with Panaxia, even though the bank’s Board of Directors estimated that Panaxia never handled more than SEK 30-50 million of Forex’s money on a daily basis.
Forex’s lack of control is particularly serious given that, at the same time, the bank held a significant portion of shares in the parent company, Panaxia AB. Forex’s exposure to Panaxia was therefore extremely large at times. The bank also received several warning signals that Panaxia was having severe problems with its cash management, which should have led Forex to take measures to control and limit the risks for the bank.
A bank has never received a second warning before, and the situation is very serious. FI has taken into consideration that the previous warning was issued in 2008 and was related to completely different issues, which the bank resolved. FI also took the bank’s resolution plan into consideration, as well as the fact that the bank’s existence was never threatened. FI is therefore only issuing in this case a warning and an administrative fine of SEK 50 million.
Today, 22 May, at 9:30 AM, Director General Martin Andersson and Chief Legal Counsel Per Håkansson will present the background to the decision and answer any questions. This press conference is for media only and will be held at Finansinspektionen’s premises at Brunnsgatan 3 in Stockholm, but it will also be broadcast live via FI’s website.
