Credit Suisse fined by regulator over 'fat finger' error

Credit Suisse has been fined AUD 74,000 ($53,483) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for a "fat finger" type error that resulted in the price of two little-traded stocks soaring last year. Fat-finger trades are normally associated with a keyboard error by a trader; however, increasingly the term is being used to refer to inadvertent mis-trades or "out trades" executed by algorithmic systems as the result of a quirk in the system.

Financial institution Credit Suisse has been fined $74,000 for a "fat-finger"-type error that led to the price of two little-traded stocks soaring.

In February 2015, Credit Suisse placed a trade in property developer Payce Consolidated at $7.90 - well about its last trading price of $5.55.

Credit Suisse has copped a $74,000 fine for a trading error. Credit: Bloomberg

The trade led to shares in Payce jumping 42.34 per cent in a single day. Credit Suisse's trade was the only one of the day in Payce.

On the same day, Credit Suisse bought interests in aluminium giant Alcoa Inc at $26.86, despite the shares last trading at $22.40.