NEW YORK - NYSE Regulation has fined Credit Suisse Securities (USA), part of Credit Suisse Group , $350,000 (S$490,180) for trading ahead of customer orders, a violation of exchange rules.

According to a monthly report from the NYSE, Credit Suisse on four occasions between January 2005 and December 2007 bought or sold NYSE-listed stock while in possession of similar orders from clients - a practice known as front running.

On 11 other occasions, the firm failed to get customer permission to make its own, similar trades along with the customer orders, and violated other exchange management and documentation rules, according to the report.

NYSE said the bank consented to censure and to the $350,000 fine, though without admitting or denying guilt.

British watchdog fines Credit Suisse US$10.5 million
Britain's financial watchdog on Wednesday said it had fined Credit Suisse banking group 5.6 million pounds (S$14.73 million).

'The Financial Services Authority has today fined the UK operations of Credit Suisse...for breaching FSA principles 2 and 3 and failing to conduct their business with due skill, care and diligence and failing to organise and control their business effectively,' the watchdog said in a statement.

It comes after the Swiss bank had amended its last full-year earnings statement with a write-down on revenues totalling 2.65 billion dollars, the FSA added on Wednesday.

'The penalty reflects our tougher stance on enforcement and our policy of imposing higher penalties to achieve credible deterrence,' the FSA's director of enforcement, Ms Margaret Cole, said in the statement. -- REUTERS, AFP