Former Bank Director Settles CFTC Charges for "Mismarking" Swaps
Commentary by Steven Lofchie
A former managing director of a bank agreed to pay $350,000 to settle CFTC charges for illegally "mismarking" swap valuations in an effort to hide significant trading losses.
According to the CFTC Order, the former managing director mismarked the valuations of swap instruments in an attempt to cover up significant trading losses incurred by entering false "end-of-day" marks into an internal bank spreadsheet utilized for internal asset valuations.
In connection with this action, the CFTC Division of Enforcement closed its investigation. The CFTC noted that its decision to terminate the investigation was based on several factors, including but not limited to, the bank's (i) timely and voluntarily self-disclosure, (ii) substantial cooperation, including providing all pertinent facts about those involved in carrying out the misconduct and (iii) "proactive remediation efforts" to improve the bank's swap valuation process.