Facebook Flotation Hits UBS For £226m

UBS could have lost up to £226m during Facebook’s flawed IPO last month after technical glitches meant the Swiss investment bank ended up with more shares than it wanted.

According to CNBC, during the flotation, UBS resubmitted multiple orders for shares in the social networking site because it failed to receive any confirmation of its initial order. UBS acknowledged in a statement that it had made losses on the IPO; the bank did not specify how much, but reports suggest the amount was 10 times higher than early estimates.

Last week, Nasdaq announced plans to compensate firms who had suffered during the flotation when problems with its trading systems led to delays and created confusion among buyers and sellers over the number of shares being held.

Nasdaq’s $40m compensation fund has been criticised by rival exchange NYSE Euronext.

“This is tantamount to forcing the industry to subsidise Nasdaq’s missteps and would establish a harmful precedent,” it said. “We intend to strongly press our views that Nasdaq’s proposal cannot be allowed to permit an unjust and anti-competitive situation.”