Budapest - The Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority (HSFA) has fined the London-based bank HSBC for violating local laws in a bond trading deal last October.

The regulatory body announced on its website that it had imposed a fine of 80 million forints (350,000 dollars) on the bank for breaking local laws on manipulating the market.

The financial watchdog found that HSBC had offered for sale a large volume of Hungarian government bonds on October 10 last year, a move which led to rise in the yield of the bonds.

The bank did not deliver the securities until after the deadline. The HFSA said it had found that HSBC was not in possession of the bonds at the time of putting them up for sale.

The trading in question took place at a time when Hungary's bond market, and its economy as a whole, was plummeting in the face of the global financial crisis.

HSBC is seeking a judicial review of the ruling through the Hungarian courts, according to the HFSA statement. (dpa)