Citigroup Global Markets agrees to $160,000 fine as a part of settlement with FINRA

Maria Nikolova

In the period from October 1, 2014 through August 4, 2017, the firm failed to transmit at least 1,714,788 Reportable Order Events to the Order Audit Trail System.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc has agreed to a fine of $160,000 as a part of a settlement with the United States Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

In the period from October 1, 2014 through August 4, 2017, Citigroup Global Markets failed to transmit at least 1,714,788 Reportable Order Events (ROEs) to the Order Audit Trail System (OATS) and improperly submitted 496,554 Route Reports to OATS that the firm was not required to report. Additionally, in the period from June 11, 2012 through April 15, 2016, the firm submitted 818,949 New Order Reports to OATS that did not require submission. This conduct violated FINRA Rules 7450 and 2010.

Moreover, from April 7, 2014 through October 31, 2016, the firm transmitted at least 241,201,167 ROEs that contained inaccurate, incomplete or improperly formatted data to OATS. This conduct violated FINRA Rules 7450 and 2010.

In the period from November 2014 through October 31, 2016, the firm submitted at least several thousand corresponding trade reports to FINRA’s Transaction Reporting Facility (TRF) and Over-the-Counter Reporting Facility (ORF) that failed to include execution timestamps in milliseconds when the firm’s system captured time in milliseconds. This conduct was in violation of FINRA Rules 6282 and 2010.

Furthermore, in the period from November 7, 2016 through January 9, 2017, the firm transmitted at least 5,172,194 ROEs in Tick Size Pilot (TSP) securities to OATS that contained inaccurate, incomplete, or improperly formatted data. This conduct violated FINRA Rules 6191 and 2010.

Finally, in the period from June 11, 2012 through August 4, 2017, the firm failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable securities laws and regulations, and with applicable FINRA rules relating to OATS and trade reporting. This conduct violated NASD Rule 3010 (for conduct on or before November 30, 2014), FINRA Rule 3110 (for conduct on and after December 1, 2014) and FINRA Rule 2010.

The total fine of $160,000 comprises a fine of $90,000 for the violations of FINRA Rule 7450, 6282 and 2010; a fine of $10,000 for violations of FINRA Rule 6191; and a fine of $60,000 for the violations of NASD Rule 3010(a), FINRA Rule 3110(a) and FINRA Rule 2010. The firm also agrees to a censure.

The firm has been a FINRA member since October 1936. It provides investment banking, asset management, brokerage, securities trading, advisory and other financial services to customers, and also engages in proprietary trading for customer flow and hedging. The firm currently employs approximately 7,328 registered representatives among its headquarters in New York and its 729 branch offices.

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