Deutsche Bank fined £4.7m for coding glitch that led to faulty transaction reports

There was 'simply no excuse for Deutsche's failure to get this right', says FCA director

Deutsche Bank has been fined £4.7m for a coding glitch that led to faulty reports of specific swaps transactions over a period of more than five years.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that the bank had failed to report more than 29 million equity swap contracts for difference (CFD) transactions, and that the error was due to a coding issue that reversed the buy/sell indicator for all CFD transactions.

The regulator explained that such a failure affected all of Deutsche Bank's equity swap CFD transaction reports in this period, and was in breach of FCA rules on transaction reporting.

Tracey McDermott, the FCA's director of enforcement and financial crime, emphasised that there was "simply no excuse for Deutsche's failure to get this right".

The FCA stated that it was particularly concerned because it has provided extensive guidance to firms on how to submit and check these reports, has already taken action against 10 other firms for transaction reporting breaches, and in addition, has already issued Deutsche Bank with a private warning in relation to similar transaction reporting failures.

RBS, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Commerzbank are some of the firms that have already been issued with fines for this type of reporting failure.

"The size of the fine reflects the very significant number of misreported transactions," the FCA said.

Deutsche Bank agreed to settle at an early stage of the investigation and therefore received a 30 per cent reduction from its £6.7m fine.