The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Citigroup Inc., UBS AG and Deutsche Bank AG a total of $425,000 and ordered them to pay customers up to a total of $420,000 for their failure to adequately supervise communications related to Vonage Holdings Corp.'s initial public offering.
None of the firms admitted nor denied the charges.
Finra, an independent regulator of securities firms, found each failed to establish adequate procedures to supervise the outsourcing of communications with customers about the Vonage IPO in May 2006. The three firms were lead underwriters for the IPO, which included a directed share program under which about 4.2 million shares were sold to Vonage customers through accounts they opened at the firms.
