On Sep. 21, CFTC fined Mizuho $250k for futures spoofing. Mizuho Bank Ltd settled CFTC charges, for engaging multiple acts of spoofing. Alleged Violations A trader engaged in spoofing on CME, CBOT in US Treasury, Eurodollar futures. Engaged in activity through trader, who accessed markets via Singapore office. Trader placed large buy and sell orders via…
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CFTC Spoofing in Commodities
On Sep. 20, CFTC fined Geneva $1.5mn for commodity spoofing. Geneva Trading USA charged with disruptive practices, via three employees. Alleged Violations Order found all three unidentified traders used the same pattern of spoofing. Manually placed smaller orders on one side of market at or near best prices, while placing larger order or series of…
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FINRA Fine Conflict of Interest
On Sep. 17, FINRA fined Cetera re employee outside business. Settlement with Cetera Financial, in which firm was censured and fined $200k. Alleged Violations Firm failed to enforce system to monitor employee outside business activities. A representative disclosed power-of-attorney of two senior customer accounts. However, the firm did not review, evaluate or respond to the…
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FINRA Fine Churning of Senior
On Sep. 17, FINRA fined Vanderbilt $100k for undue churning. Vanderbilt Securities, and Barry Alan Champney fined $100k and 5k respectively. Alleged Violations Procedures acknowledged regular trades in the same security may be unsuitable. But did not give guidance for detecting or preventing excess trading or churning. No systemic tracking of turnover rates and cost-to-equity…
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FINRA Fine $1mn VA Suitability
On Sep. 17, FINRA fined four firms $1mn re VA suitability issues. FSC Securities Corporations, fined $200k, Royal Alliance Associates fined $350k. SagePoint Financial, fined $200k and Woodbury Financial Services, fined $250k. Failures Procedures did not specifically address the suitability issues related to different surrender periods, fees and costs of the different variable annuity share…
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FINMA Credit Suisse FIFA Failings
On Sep. 17, FINMA announced Credit Suisse AML failure re FIFA. Announced the conclusion of two investigations into AML failings at Credit Suisse. Overview An investigation identified deficiencies in anti-money laundering due diligence, re suspected corruption involving FIFA, Petrobras, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Second re significant business relationship with politically exposed person (PEP). Deficiencies in AML…
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