Regulator fines Barclays £2.45m for reporting errors

8th Sep 2009 10:24

Barclays has been hit with a £2.45m fine by the FSA for failures in its reporting of transactions.The FSA said it 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', the statement said.It added that the fine on Barclays was significantly higher than previous penalties imposed for transaction reporting errors and reflected the serious nature of Barclays' breaches.The size of the fine was also a warning to other firms that the FSA will not tolerate inadequate systems and controls, the regulator said.Barclays' breaches occurred despite repeated reminders to firms of their obligations to provide accurate data and the importance of compliance with the FSA rules on transaction reporting during the course of 2007 and 2008, the FSA added.It said the problems affected 57.5m reportable transactions across all asset classes and occurred across eight different systems used by Barclays to report to the FSA.Current rules require transaction reports containing mandatory details to be submitted to the FSA by the end of the next business day following the day on which the firm entered into the transaction'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, added.Barclays co-operated fully and decided to settle with the FSA at an early stage. In doing so it qualified for a 30% discount. Without the discount the fine would have been £3.5m.