CHINA’S securities regulator in August last year imposed a record penalty on Everbright Securities Co. after finding the Shanghai-listed brokerage engaged in insider trading as it roiled the nation’s equity markets with errant trades.

    Fines and the confiscation of illicit gains reached 523 million yuan (US$85 million). Four people, including ex-president Xu Haoming, were banned from markets for life and the brokerage was barred from most proprietary trading.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission had initially barred Everbright from trading using its own money for three months after erroneous buy orders Aug. 16 sparked big swing in China’s benchmark equity index.

    (SD-Agencies)