Watchdog fines Barclays for transaction inaccuracies

Barclays bank has been fined £2.45-million for “serious weaknesses” in systems and controls that led to inaccurate reporting of transactions, Britain’s financial watchdog said on Tuesday.

The Financial Services Authority said it had fined Barclays the equivalent of €2,8-million or $4,1-million dollars “for failing to provide accurate transaction reports to the FSA and for serious weaknesses in systems and controls in relation to transaction reporting”.

FSA director of markets, Alexander Justham, said in a statement the penalty was “significantly higher than previous penalties imposed for transaction reporting errors”.

He added: “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.”

The FSA said firms were required to submit transactions data by the close of business the day after a trade was executed.

“The FSA uses this data to detect and investigate suspected market abuse: insider trading and market manipulation,” said the watchdog.

“The FSA discovered discrepancies in Barclays’ data while reviewing a suspected incident of market abuse by a third party.

“A subsequent review of Barclays’ transaction reporting arrangements revealed that it did not have adequate systems and controls in place to meet the transaction reporting requirements as well as a substantial number of errors in the data submitted to the FSA,” it added.—AFP