UPDATE Barclays Fined GBP2.45 Million For Failures In Transaction Reporting
September 08 2009 - 6:05AM
Dow Jones News
Barclays PLC (BCS) has been fined GBP2.45 million by the
Financial Services Authority for failing to provide accurate
reports of securities transactions and not having strong enough
reporting systems in place.
The markets watchdog said it found discrepancies in Barclays'
data while it was investigating a suspected incidence of market
abuse by a third party. It then reviewed Barclays' transaction
reporting arrangements and found the banks' systems and controls to
report transactions were inadequate, as well as errors in the data
it submitted to the FSA.
"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," Alexander Justham, FSA
director of markets said in a statement.
He said the penalty is significantly higher than those in other
cases of transaction reporting errors, reflecting the "serious
nature of Barclays' breaches" and to serve as a warning to other
firms that the FSA won't tolerate inadequate systems and
controls.
Because Barclays cooperated fully with the FSA on the
investigation and agreed to an early settlement, its fine was
reduced from GBP3.5 million.
Company Web site: http://www.fsa.gov.uk
-By Margot Patrick, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9451;
margot.patrick@dowjones.com