Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission issued a record fine to Controladora Comercial Mexicana SAB and said an investigation into five other companies over their derivatives accounting is continuing.

Comerci, as the Mexico grocery operator is known, and two executives were fined a record 49 million pesos ($3.7 million) for not properly disclosing positions and losses from currency derivatives they held, the agency said today. The company said in a separate statement that it won’t appeal the fines.

The CNBV, as the agency is known, is studying whether the companies properly revealed derivatives they held to shareholders after wrong-way bets triggered at least $3 billion in losses. Mexican companies including Cemex SAB, the world’s third-largest cement maker, Alfa SAB and Vitro SAB were hit as investments tied to the peso or energy prices soured.

“Companies and those responsible for them need to report any news they have in a timely and appropriate manner,” commission President Guillermo Babatz said in a telephone interview today. “We want to send a very strong message.”

Babatz declined to name the companies still being investigated or say when the inquiries may end.

After the losses, the CNBV instituted rules requiring companies to provide a more detailed explanation of their derivative holdings. Derivatives are financial contracts that allow investors to hedge against, or speculate on, price swings in an underlying asset, such as a stock or currency.

Central bank Governor Guillermo Ortiz said earlier this month that some Mexican companies “played” derivatives in the same style as hedge funds before credit markets dried up.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andres Martinez in Mexico City at amartinez28@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 23, 2009 16:49 EST