HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s markets watchdog has fined a Citigroup unit HK$348.25 million ($44.68 million) for what it called serious regulatory failures over client facilitation activities, attributing the fault to former senior management at the bank.
The Securities and Futures Commission said Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited had allowed trading desks under its Cash Equities business to make misrepresentations to institutional clients when executing facilitation trades from 2008 to 2018.
“This resolves an issue relating to Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited activities dating back to 2018. We have fully cooperated with the SFC’s investigation and have implemented significant remedial measures to strengthen our compliance and internal controls,” a Citi spokesman said in an emailed statement.
($1 = 7.7940 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Alun John; editing by John Stonestreet)
