March 20 (Reuters) - Britain's financial regulator on

Thursday fined the London Metal Exchange 9.2 million pounds

($11.9 million) over its handling of the 2022 nickel crisis, and

said the exchange had failed to ensure its systems were

well-equipped.

In March 2022, the LME was forced to halt nickel trading and

cancel trades after prices doubled to more than $100,000 per

tonne in a surge blamed on short-covering. But the move had cost

the exchange severely.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority said the LME had

failed "to ensure its systems and controls were adequate to deal

with severe market stress", and highlighted how its automatic

volatility controls operated and crises were escalated and

managed internally.

"We take our responsibilities as a global market operator

very seriously, and acknowledge that we could have provided a

better line of defence...," LME Chief Executive Officer Matthew

Chamberlain said in a statement.

The LME, operated by the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

Ltd ( HKXCF ), has qualified for a 30% reduction in the fine

since it accepted the findings, the regulator said.

($1 = 0.7721 pounds)