FSA fines Barclays £2.45m

[CliveH]

Sorry to those bored with the continuing Wunch of Bankers saga - but this just in from one of the "pinks"

 

 

Nicole Blackmore - 08-Sep-2009

 

The FSA has fined Barclays Capital Securities and Barclays Bank £2.45m for failing to provide accurate transaction reports and for serious weaknesses in systems and controls.

 

Firms are required to submit data for reportable transactions by close of business the day after a trade is executed.

 

An FSA trading review, conducted from November 1, 2007 to October 31, 2008, revealed that a total 57.5 million reportable transactions were either reported inaccurately, with incomplete data, or not reported at all.

 

Barclays’ errors in transaction reporting impacted 100 per cent of Barclays’ reportable transactions across every core reportable asset class except cash equities. Approximately 84 per cent of reportable transactions in the cash equities class were impacted.

 

The FSA says Barclays failed to submit a report at all for 17 million transactions and failed to accurately to report 5.8 million cash equity transactions as a result of reporting transactions in batches.

 

It reported the incorrect trade time for 24.6 million transactions and used the incorrect code to identify the relevant counterparty or client for whom Barclays had acted in relation to 7 million transactions.

 

Barclays also failed to identify the underlying instrument for 2.2 million transactions and failed to identify whether the transaction was a buy or sell from the perspective of Barclays in relation to 3.8 million transactions.

 

The errors occurred across eight different reporting systems used by Barclays to provide data to the FSA.

 

The FSA says Barclays’ breaches occurred despite repeated reminders to firms of their obligations to provide accurate data and the importance of compliance with FSA rules on transaction reporting during 2007 and 2008.

 

Barclays has commissioned a review of its transaction reporting process and committed resources to improve its processes and resolve the errors.

 

The regulator says Barclays co-operated fully with the FSA in the course of its investigation and agreed to settle at an early stage.

 

In doing so it qualified for a 30 per cent discount. Without the discount the fine would have been £3.5m.

 

FSA director of markets Alexander Justham says: “Complete and accurate transaction reports are an essential component of the FSA’s market monitoring work. Barclays’ reporting failures could have a damaging impact on our ability to detect and investigate suspected market abuse.

 

“The penalty imposed on Barclays is significantly higher than previous penalties imposed for transaction reporting errors. This reflects the serious nature of Barclays’ breaches and is a warning to other firms that the FSA will not tolerate inadequate systems and controls.”

 

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Anyone banking with Barclays who goes through their overdraft limit - be prepared to get hammered - Barclays will want to recover this £2.45M from

somewhere :D