ASIC alleges that between December 2014 and September 2018 SocGen Securities failed to comply with "client money" obligations, in contravention of criminal offence provisions under sections 993B(1) and 993C(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (the Act).

The bank appeared at the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on criminal charges, including two counts of failing to pay clients' money into segregated authorised bank accounts and two counts of failing to comply with requirements relating to a clients' money bank account.

SocGen Securities "provides financial services in equity derivative sales, prime services and clearing, and provides a range of financial products including ASX24 futures and options and OTC (‘over the counter’) derivatives. SocGen Securities’s clients are wholesale clients, including financial institutions, hedge funds, asset managers and various corporate clients," says ASIC (as slightly edited).

Apparently, the grammatically questionable term "client money" appears in statute. Well, sorry: we're not repeating that error except on this one occasion:

"Under section 981A(1) of the Act ‘Client Money’ is:

- money paid to a financial services licensee in connection with a financial service that has been provided, or will or may be provided, or
- money paid to a licensee in connection with a financial product held by a person.

Under s981B(1) of the Act, an AFS licence holder must ensure that client money is paid into a client money account. An AFS licence holder is only permitted to make payments out of a client money account as specified by the Corporations Regulations."