The London branch of Macquarie Bank has been fined £13 million after a trader in its London branch went rogue and created more than 400 “fictitious’ commodities trades.
The Financial Conduct Authority said that between June 2020 and February 2022, Travis Klein, of the bank’s London metals and bulks trading desk, was able to “record and take steps to conceal” hundreds of false trades in a debacle that exposed “serious failings” at the subsidiary of Australia’s Macquarie Group.
The fictitious trades, intended to cover-up Klein’s loss-making positions, were not detected earlier because of “significant weaknesses in [Macquarie’s] systems and controls, some of which the firm had been previously made aware of”.
The bank knew of the shortcomings but “failed to put effective and timely plans