The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the filing of an order and concurrent settlement of charges against Barclays Bank PLC for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations regarding swap reporting. Barclays is registered with the CFTC as an exchange dealer.
The order requires Barclays to pay a civil monetary penalty of $4 million, to cease and desist from violating applicable provisions of the CEA and CFTC regulations, and to comply with certain conditions and covenants. Barclays admitted the facts of the order and acknowledged that its conduct violated CEA and CFTC regulations.
According to the order, from 2018 to 2023, Barclays failed to properly or timely report millions of swap transactions in violation of CEA and CFTC regulations.
Reporting failures during the relevant period included incorrect reporting due to the use of a duplicate swap identifier. Incorrect reporting of primary financial terms; incorrect timing; errors in connection with the reporting of continuity data; and late reporting.
In total, adding up all categories of conduct, Barclays either misreported or failed to report on time more than five million swap transactions from 2018 to 2023.
By accepting Barclays’ Settlement Offer, the CFTC acknowledged Barclays’ substantial cooperation during the Enforcement Division’s investigation. Barclays’ cooperation included proactively flagging exchange reporting issues for the CFTC during the investigation and voluntarily providing detailed and specific information about the violations described in the order.
The CFTC also acknowledges Barclays’ representations regarding its remediation in this matter. This remediation includes the voluntary engagement of third-party vendors to audit and validate Barclays’ exchange reporting processes.
The regulator notes that Barclays’ cooperation and restitution is being recognized in the form of a reduced civil fine.