CFTC Slams HSBC With $75M Penalty For Unethical Practices, Claims Involvement Of Senior Leadership

HSBC Holdings PLC HSBC has agreed to pay $75 million in penalty charges as ordered by U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
HSBC Bank USA will pay a civil monetary penalty of $45 million for manipulative and deceptive trading related to swaps with bond issuers, spoofing, and mobile device record-keeping failures that took place from March 2012-July 2020.
Also, HSBC Bank USA, HSBC Bank Plc and HSBC Securities are charged with a penalty of $30 million for record-keeping and supervision failures as per CFTC requirements.
HSBC neither admitted nor denied these charges, as per Reuters.
Commissioner Christy Goldsmith commented, "HSBC's illegal conduct stemmed from a widespread culture of non-compliance. Over the course of four years, HSBC traders used manipulative tactics to move swap and Treasury prices in a way that raised HSBC's own profits at the expense of clients who were engaging in the trades as part of a broader deal to have HSBC issue bonds for them. HSBC senior leadership directed these trades. Leadership and traders openly discussed their goal of manipulating prices, both internally and with the brokers whose prices screens were being manipulated."
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Price Action: HSBC shares are trading higher by 2.00% at $38.25 premarket on the last check Monday.