Russian Association of Financial Markets Members
(RAFMM)

Claim # 8-08/2011

DECISION

November 25, 2011

Guryevsk town

August 24, 2011, the RAFMM Arbitration Committee received a complaint from customer of CorsaCapital Company Mr. Khaydin, account #72163.
According to the Complainant, in the morning on August 15, 2011, the balance of his trading account was 678 USD. Mr. Khaydin purchased 7 options, each for 1 USD, and ordered a withdrawal in amount of 576 USD. However, the withdrawal request was cancelled and 1055 USD were debited from the Customer’s account. It resulted in a negative account balance of 384 USD.
The Company explained its actions referring to the correction of the trading result and incorrect calculation of options price-and-earnings ratios.
The Customer asserts that the Company illegally debited the trading account in question owing to the incorrect calculations. In this context he demands to restore the balance of his trading account as it was at the moment of debiting and also to fine the Company 300 USD for untimely consideration of the claim, illegal operation with the Customer’s funds, the wasted opportunity to gain profit as a result of the ungrounded account blocking for a long period of time.
To prove the facts provided, Mr. Khaydin submitted the screenshots of his account and correspondence with the Company’s technical support. In the course of the complaint investigation a Company’s representative provided explanations regarding the dispute and arguments which – according to the Company – ground the debit.

Having considered the material of the complaint, the Arbitration Committee

ESTABLISHED:

1. The fact that the Customer intended to derive profit from the incorrect ratios is not proven. Carrying out trades, the Customer employed the ratios provided by the Company during rather a long period of time.
2. The Company debited the Customer’s account, referring to a technical error in calculation of the ratios and to point 6.3 of the Agreement:
“Results of option completion can be reconsidered in favor of the Company or the Client if non-market quotes, technical problems or other force majeure circumstances are observed”.

On the basis of the abovementioned facts, the RAFMM Arbitration Committee

DECIDED:

1. CorsaCapital Company must write off the debt on account # 72136.
2. CorsaCapital Company must pay the Customer compensation in amount of 120 USD using the requisites the Customer employed to replenish his account.

EXPLANATIONS ANS RECOMMENDATIONS:

Due to imperfection of the formula and mistakes in the program algorithms, it was necessary to recalculate the options cancelled using correct ratios. However, in this case and under such market conditions, recalculation of the ratios is equivalent to cancellation of the trades. The latter is exactly what the Company made. Still the Customer had managed to withdraw part of his funds until the error was detected which caused the Customer the negative account balance. Customers do not bear any responsibility for errors in ratio calculations of the Company.
If such situation reoccurs, a compromise ought to be found with proper calculations and no emotions involved. Mutual accusations of fraud without any facts and documents are inadmissible either in interpersonal communication or on forums.
The Company ought to pay attention to the time it takes to reply to its Customers’ requests and competence of the technical support service and also to eliminate emotions and offensive retorts.

The decision delivered by the Arbitration Committee is approved by the RAFMM executive board.

RAFMM President,
Evgeny Staroviborny