According to the revised regulations, the Disciplinary Board may impose a sanction for an infringement, which can be a reprimand or caution. The Disciplinary Board may also issue a temporary suspension of the rights of a Helsinki Exchanges Member or propose to Helsinki Exchanges' or APK's board permanent cancellation of such rights. As a sanction in connection with a reprimand or a caution, the Disciplinary Board may order the party in question to pay a disciplinary charge to APK. The disciplinary charge imposed on an organisation shall be not less than 10,000 euros and not more than 200,000 euros. For a natural person the minimum and maximum are 1,000 euros and 10,000 euros. The decisions taken by the Disciplinary Board are generally available to the public, except for reprimands.
The Secretary of the Disciplinary Board will handle serious breaches and prepare them for the Board. For a breach the Secretary may impose a reprimand, which is generally not made public. Those subject to enforcement by the Disciplinary Board and its Secretary include HEX securities and derivatives trading members, market makers, brokers employed by them and listed companies. Those covered at APK include clearing parties and account operators. The Disciplinary Board will be a panel of experts independent of Helsinki Exchanges and APK. Its members must have particular types of competence. The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Disciplinary Board must each have served as a judge and at least two of the members must have a good understanding of securities markets. The members of the Disciplinary Board formed by Helsinki Exchanges and APK have been appointed for a three-year term.
The members are as follows: Supreme Court Justice Mikko Tulokas (Chairman), Professor Risto Nuolimaa (Deputy Chairman), LL.M. Simo-Pekka Helander and Professor Kalervo Virtanen. They have all been members of the Helsinki Exchanges' Disciplinary Board for a considerable time.
Senior Vice President, Market Supervision and Enforcement, Timo Rintanen has been appointed Secretary of the Disciplinary Board. He moved to this post from the Financial Supervision Authority, where he had been employed in various managerial and expert positions since 1989. In addition to handling breaches of regulations, he will also be responsible for coordinating and developing market supervision within Helsinki Exchanges and APK.
The revised regulations of Helsinki Exchanges and APK and the new regulations for the Disciplinary Board will take effect on 10th December 2001. The regulations will be published on HEX's website at www.hex.com on the same day.
