Cantor Fitzgerald and BMO Capital Charged for Improper Handling of ADRs

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that broker Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. will pay more than $647,000 and broker BMO Capital Markets Corporation will pay over $3.9 million to settle charges of improper handling of "pre-released" American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). With today's actions, the SEC has charged 13 financial institutions in its ongoing investigation into abusive ADR pre-release practices, which, thus far, has included monetary settlements exceeding $427 million. ADRs – U.S. securities that represent foreign shares of a foreign company – require a corresponding number of foreign shares to be held in custody at a depositary bank. The practice of "pre-release" allows ADRs to be issued without the deposit of foreign shares, provided brokers receiving the ADRs have an agreement with a depositary bank and the broker or its customer owns the number of foreign shares that corresponds to the number of shares the ADRs represent.