FINRA Fines BofA Securities $24 Million for More Than 700 Spoofing Instances by Former Traders

By Denny Jacob

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined BofA Securities $24 million for more than 700 instances of spoofing through two former traders.

Spoofing is a type of fraudulent trading in which trades not intended to be executed create the appearance of market activity to induce other market participants to trade against orders that were actually executed.

FINRA, a not-for-profit organization overseen by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said a former supervisor and a former junior trader executed 717 instances of spoofing in a U.S. Treasury security to induce opposite-side executions in the same Treasury security or a correlated Treasury futures contract.

BofA Securities consented to the entry of FINRA's findings without admitting or denying the charges in settling the matter, said FINRA.

"This matter stems from the actions of two former employees. Over the past several years, we have made significant investments to enhance our controls, including improved surveillance, increased staff, additional training, and updated policies. We worked cooperatively with FINRA to resolve this matter," said Bank of America.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2023 11:06 ET (16:06 GMT)

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