2018 Samsung fat-finger error
{{Short description|Mistaken share distribution to employees}}
The 2018 Samsung fat-finger error was a fat-finger error on April 8, 2018, in which an employee of Samsung Securities mistakenly distributed shares worth {{US$|100 billion}} to employees. The company is the stock trading arm of the Samsung conglomerate and is engaged in financial services including securities and investment banking sectors primarily in Korea, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Hong Kong.{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/016360.KS|title=Samsung Securities Co Ltd (016360.KS)|website=U.S.|language=en|access-date=2018-09-27}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=878587|title=Company Overview of Samsung Securities Co., Ltd.|date=September 27, 2018|website=www.bloomberg.com|access-date=2018-09-27}}
Error
The error happened when Samsung Securities tried to pay a dividend to about 2,000 employees who participated in the company stock ownership plan.{{cite web |last1=Jeong |first1=Eun-Young |title=Samsung Securities Seeks Charges Against Some Employees Over 'Fat Finger' Mistake |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-securities-seeks-charges-against-some-employees-over-fat-finger-mistake-1525715892 |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=7 May 2018}} The intent was to give each of those employees 1,000 South Korean won, worth about {{US$|1}}, but instead issued 2.8 billion shares.{{cite web |author1=Son Ji-hyoung |title=Samsung Securities fiasco exposes stock trading loophole |url=http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180408000221 |website=The Korea Herald |language=en |date=8 April 2018}} These shares were worth about 112.6 trillion won, or 30 times the market capitalization of the company. The company noticed the error 37 minutes later. However, while the shares were issued and before the company noticed, 16 employees sold the shares which the company gave them. Some of these employees, according to the country's Financial Supervisory Service, proceeded with the sale despite receiving warnings from the company. The employees who sold their shares could have received {{US$|9 million}} each.{{cite web |last1=Charette |first1=Robert N. |title=Samsung Securities' $105 Billion Fat-Finger Share Error Triggers Urgent Regulator Inquiry |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/samsung-securities-105-billion-fatfinger-share-error-triggers-urgent-regulator-inquiry |website=IEEE Spectrum |language=en |date=13 April 2018}} A South Korean financial watchdog later found that 21 employees traded or attempted to sell their shares to profit from the error and were promptly reported to prosecutors.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-sec-error/south-korean-prosecutors-raid-samsung-sec-office-over-fat-finger-trade-idUSKCN1IT02W?il=0|title=South Korean prosecutors raid Samsung Sec office over fat finger trade|work=U.S.|access-date=2018-09-27|language=en-US}}
When Samsung Securities provided the shares, it used a process of naked short selling which is illegal in Korea and which the computer infrastructure was not supposed to allow.{{cite web |title=Samsung Securities, did it go too short? |url=http://www.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20180408000117 |website=The Korea Herald |language=en |date=8 April 2018}}
Consequences
The error caused the price of Samsung stock to drop by 11 percent within a day and to fluctuate after that. The Financial Supervisory Service said that the incident undermined trust in the Korean capital market.{{cite web |date=9 April 2018 |title=(2nd LD) Regulator inspects Samsung Securities over 'fat-finger' dividend chaos |url=https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20180409010400320 |website=Yonhap News Agency |language=en}}
The National Pension Service halted trading immediately after the error.{{cite web |last1=Park |first1=Ju-min |last2=Lee |first2=Joyce |title=Samsung Sec 'fat finger' debacle deepens as pension fund halts trade |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-sec-error/south-korean-pension-fund-stops-trading-with-samsung-securities-after-fat-finger-error-idUSKBN1HH07O |website=Reuters |date=9 April 2018}} This pension fund has 136 trillion won or {{US$|127 billion}} invested in the Korean stock market. By May 7, 2018, Samsung Securities stated that it would file criminal lawsuits against employees who sold their shares during the fat finger incident. On May 28, 2018, government prosecutors raided the Samsung offices.{{cite web |last1=Narwan |first1=Gurpreet |title=Investigators raid Samsung over £75bn 'fat-finger' slip-up |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/markets/article/investigators-raid-samsung-over-75bn-fat-finger-slip-up-jkw6rjm2s |website=The Times |language=en |date=29 May 2018}}{{update inline|reason=Then what happened?|date=February 2022}}