UBS fined £8m by the UK regulator

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Swiss banking giant UBS £8m for failing to stop its employees making unauthorised transactions.

The FSA said four UBS employees had carried out the transactions using customer money on at least 39 accounts.

The unauthorised activities took place between January 2006 and December 2007. The FSA also said the trades involved foreign exchange and precious metals.

In a statement, UBS said it "deeply regrets this incident".

"Having fully co-operated with the FSA's investigation, we are now pleased that this matter has been settled so that we can move forward," the bank said, adding it had already taken full steps to deal with the problem.

Earlier this week, UBS reported a loss for the July to September quarter.