Oh Dear - another fine of $487.9 million is being levied on Barclaysand four of its traders, this time for alleged manipulation of the U.S energy markets. According to Bloomberg the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission:
"determined that the Barclays traders manipulated markets in the Western U.S. from November 2006 to December 2008. The employees made transactions in fixed-price products -- often at a loss -- with the intent of moving an index to benefit the bank’s other bets on swaps"
Barclays deny the charges, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out. Interestingly 4 traders will be personally fined, with one of them facing a $15 million fine. I think this is a great idea, traders that manipulate markets in an illegal fashion need to be personally responsible and accountable for their conduct. To be fair to banks they like most organizations can have some "bad employees" working for them and no matter how many controls you put in place some employees will severely bend the rules or ignore them. If we want to limit this possibility, then criminal charges and personal liabilities for the traders involved is totally appropriate and sends a clear message to other traders. Here is the link to the Bloomberg story - link
"determined that the Barclays traders manipulated markets in the Western U.S. from November 2006 to December 2008. The employees made transactions in fixed-price products -- often at a loss -- with the intent of moving an index to benefit the bank’s other bets on swaps"
Barclays deny the charges, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out. Interestingly 4 traders will be personally fined, with one of them facing a $15 million fine. I think this is a great idea, traders that manipulate markets in an illegal fashion need to be personally responsible and accountable for their conduct. To be fair to banks they like most organizations can have some "bad employees" working for them and no matter how many controls you put in place some employees will severely bend the rules or ignore them. If we want to limit this possibility, then criminal charges and personal liabilities for the traders involved is totally appropriate and sends a clear message to other traders. Here is the link to the Bloomberg story - link
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