On Tuesday, a unit of NatWest Group agreed to pay $35 million and pleaded guilty in connection to a long-running scheme of some traders to manipulate U.S. Treasury bond markets.
NatWest Markets, the lender's investment bank, admitted that its traders participated in schemes to manipulate U.S. Treasury market markets for a decade. This was up until 2018. According to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice, the firm was ordered to serve three years probation and pay restitution.
This fine is yet another setback in the efforts of British state-backed bank to improve its image. Chief Executive Alison Rose also rebranded the group last year from the scandal-tainted Royal Bank of Scotland. After the 2008 financial crisis, British taxpayers still own the majority of the bank.
Tuesday's plea deal comes less than a week after NatWest was penalized 265 million pounds ($352million) by a British court. This was for failing to prevent the laundering nearly 400 million pounds. Some of this money was deposited at a branch with bin bags.
Some people thought Tuesday's penalty was too mild.
"It's good that DOJ required the bank to plead guilty, pay a fine and restitution, and be on probation for three years, but it’s not enough," said Dennis Kelleher, head of the Better Markets think tank on financial regulation.
According to prosecution documents filed Tuesday, NatWest traders in Connecticut, London, and Singapore engaged in "spoofing" methods in which they manipulated Treasury market prices.
The strategy, which is aimed to generate a false appearance of demand, has been vigorously pursued by US regulators, who are examining similar behaviour by traders at other prominent banks, including JPMorgan Chase. Since 2019, the Justice Department has increased monitoring through a specialty section inside its Washington-based fraud department, in collaboration with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
According to Tuesday's disclosures, traders for NatWest Markets engaged in these schemes in the secondary market for bills, notes, bonds, and other associated Treasury securities from 2008 to May 2014, as well as for additional three months in 2018.
In a statement, NatWest Markets' chief executive officer, Robert Begbie, expressed sorrow for "previous behaviour of a small number of former colleagues."
"The behaviour of these individuals was unacceptable and has no place in the bank we are today," he said.
The $25.2 million criminal punishment and other payments will address both spoofing-related accusations and a violation of a prior deal with the Justice Department, according to NatWest.
Prosecutors informed NatWest in September that it had violated a previous settlement due to traders' misconduct, alluding to a 2017 agreement in which the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute the bank for alleged fraudulent trading of mortgage-backed securities.
(Source:www.cyprus-mail.com)
NatWest Markets, the lender's investment bank, admitted that its traders participated in schemes to manipulate U.S. Treasury market markets for a decade. This was up until 2018. According to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice, the firm was ordered to serve three years probation and pay restitution.
This fine is yet another setback in the efforts of British state-backed bank to improve its image. Chief Executive Alison Rose also rebranded the group last year from the scandal-tainted Royal Bank of Scotland. After the 2008 financial crisis, British taxpayers still own the majority of the bank.
Tuesday's plea deal comes less than a week after NatWest was penalized 265 million pounds ($352million) by a British court. This was for failing to prevent the laundering nearly 400 million pounds. Some of this money was deposited at a branch with bin bags.
Some people thought Tuesday's penalty was too mild.
"It's good that DOJ required the bank to plead guilty, pay a fine and restitution, and be on probation for three years, but it’s not enough," said Dennis Kelleher, head of the Better Markets think tank on financial regulation.
According to prosecution documents filed Tuesday, NatWest traders in Connecticut, London, and Singapore engaged in "spoofing" methods in which they manipulated Treasury market prices.
The strategy, which is aimed to generate a false appearance of demand, has been vigorously pursued by US regulators, who are examining similar behaviour by traders at other prominent banks, including JPMorgan Chase. Since 2019, the Justice Department has increased monitoring through a specialty section inside its Washington-based fraud department, in collaboration with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
According to Tuesday's disclosures, traders for NatWest Markets engaged in these schemes in the secondary market for bills, notes, bonds, and other associated Treasury securities from 2008 to May 2014, as well as for additional three months in 2018.
In a statement, NatWest Markets' chief executive officer, Robert Begbie, expressed sorrow for "previous behaviour of a small number of former colleagues."
"The behaviour of these individuals was unacceptable and has no place in the bank we are today," he said.
The $25.2 million criminal punishment and other payments will address both spoofing-related accusations and a violation of a prior deal with the Justice Department, according to NatWest.
Prosecutors informed NatWest in September that it had violated a previous settlement due to traders' misconduct, alluding to a 2017 agreement in which the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute the bank for alleged fraudulent trading of mortgage-backed securities.
(Source:www.cyprus-mail.com)
