The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Sigma Broking £531,000 for failing to report crucial reports regarding market abuse.
The FCA highlighted that three directors at Sigma Broking have also been fined amounts totalling over £200,000.
Between December 2014 and August 2016, Sigma did not report, or failed to report accurately up to 56,000 contracts for difference transactions to the FCA. It also failed to identify 97 suspicious transactions or orders that it should have reported to the FCA.
According to the FCA, many of Sigma’s failings had their origins in the ‘inadequate’ governance and oversight provided by Sigma’s board of directors.
From this, the FCA has issued prohibitions against two of Sigma’s directors, Simon Tyson and Stephen Tomlin, preventing them from holding significant management functions in firms regulated by the FCA. They have also been fined £67,900 and £69,600, respectively. Matthew Kent – a current Sigma director – has also been fined £83,600.
FCA director of enforcement and market oversight Mark Steward said, “Firms must accurately report their transactions and bring any suspicious activity to our attention. Sigma failed to do this, which left potential market abuse undetected. Those failures came from the top and two directors have been banned from holding senior positions in financial services, as a result.
“Accurate transaction reporting and effective surveillance are crucial tools in identifying dodgy dealing that undermines clean markets. These bans and the scale of the fines we have imposed demonstrate our determination to ensure firms – and those who lead them – meet the reporting standards we expect.”
The FCA recently wrote to insurance industry CEOs to make customers are protected from unfair penalties, add-ons and unnecessary products during the cost-of-living crisis.
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