UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Deutsche Bank’s London Branch £4,718,000 for incorrectly reporting transactions from November 2007 to April 2013.
The fine was imposed as a result of Deutsche’s failure to properly report 29,411,494 equity swap CFD (contracts for difference) transactions, affecting all such transactions during the specified period.
FCA director of enforcement and financial crime, Tracey McDermott, commented, ''Effective market surveillance is critical to maintain the integrity of our markets and depends on accurate and timely reporting of transactions. Deutsche is a major market participant responsible for reporting millions of transactions every year. We have repeatedly highlighted the importance of accurate transaction reporting and taken enforcement action against a number of firms. There is simply no excuse for Deutsche's failure to get this right. Other firms should be in no doubt about our continued focus on this issue."
The FCA says it is especially concerned because of the extensive guidance already provided to firms regarding the submission and checking of transaction reports. They had previously issued a private warning to Deutsche relating to similar such failures.
Because Deutsche offered to settle at an early stage of the investigation there was a 30% reduction to the fine.