FINRA Fines and Suspends Former UBS Analyst for Sharing Confidential Info

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it has determined to accept the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) submitted by Sandeep Jain, a former UBS analyst, for the purpose of proposing a settlement of the alleged rule violations. FINRA fined and suspended Jain due to his sharing of confidential information about the company.

Between 2016 and September 2019, Jain was associated with UBS Securities LLC, where he was Managing Director, Global Head of Rates Quantitative Analytics. In August 2019, Jain used his UBS-issued computer to access a third-party internet-based platform that facilitates the creation of websites; Jain did so to edit a website for his wife's business. He enabled file sharing between his UBS computer and the third-party platform, which resulted in the transfer of more than 100 files from Jain's computer to the third — party platform; the shared files contained confidential UBS information, including business information and intellectual property belonging to UBS Securities. None of the transferred information pertained to UBS customers.

The file sharing folder on the third — party platform was publicly accessible, permitting anyone who visited it to access the UBS confidential files that were transferred from Jain's computer.

UBS detected the data leakage and brought it to Jain's attention. He then realized that he had transferred confidential firm files, and thereafter, with UBS's permission, deleted the files from the third — party platform.

Jain consents to the imposition of a 20 business — day suspension from associating with any FINRA member in all capacities and a fine of $5,000.