UBS says Nasdaq's Facebook IPO compensation is inadequate

INVESTMENT BANK Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) is not satisfied with the compensation offered by Nasdaq following its botched handling of Facebook's initial public offering (IPO).

Facebook's IPO was marred by problems in Nasdaq's systems that left investors unsure of whether trades had gone through, resulting in investment banks and brokers taking large losses. Nasdaq's offer of compensation has been deemed "inadequate" by UBS, one of the investors affected by Nasdaq's botched handling of the IPO.

Nasdaq is offering $62m in compensation, a figure that UBS said is "inadequate to address the magnitude of Nasdaq's unprecedented failures", as it claimed it had lost oer $350m as a result. Nasdaq's systems failed to confirm trades, which lead firms to automatically re-enter trades, leaving investors liable for huge losses.

According to UBS, the compensation "should be expanded to include the full extent of losses caused by Nasdaq, and that the requirement that participants in the program release other legitimate claims they may have against Nasdaq is fundamentally unfair".

UBS told the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Nasdaq's compensation figure was "woefully inadequate". UBS wasn't the only bank to send the SEC a letter about Nasdaq's handling of the Facebook IPO, with Citibank claiming "gross negligence".

While Nasdaq's trading systems buckled under the weight of Facebook's IPO, that isn't the only reason the firm's share price has fallen off a cliff since making its debut on the Nasdaq exchange. While UBS, Citibank and other well heeled investment firms try to recover their losses, many of Facebook's staff are looking forward to November when they can sell their stakes in the company. µ