By Tom Burroughes Group Editor Family Wealth Report

The “naughty corner” for miscreant banks and other wealth management institutions is getting crowded. Charges of interbank rate fixing, lax anti-money laundering controls and questionable pricing policies have been levelled – and in some cases punished heavily. Besides misbehaviour, there have also been some losses – such as at JP Morgan – which embarrassed the firms concerned.

Some of the failings that have been punished, such as Barclays’ misbehaviour over the interbank interest rate rigging affair, go back several years and as of the time of writing, firms have moved, or say they have done so, to clean up their act. Some firms making the headlines recently, most obviously HSBC (anti-money laundering) and Barclays (LIBOR rigging) are aware of the work they must embark upon to improve their reputation. These firms must engage as openly as they can with clients (and for that matter, constructive critics such as this publication). In the case of Barclays, for example, it has recruited top talent such as former UK Financial Services Authority chief executive Hector Sants to head up its efforts to improve compliance. Other banks have added to risk management teams in recent months, and no doubt will continue to do so.

By way of a guide to some of the problems that have hit these firms, here is a summary of the main institutions. Not all of the cases mentioned are complete and could be subject to further action. In the case of JP Morgan, the loss is not necessarily the result of any wrongdoing. The summary here is in no way a comment by this publication as to the specific responsibility of the firms concerned.

We also invite readers who want to comment on what is being done to improve compliance to share their thoughts with us at this publication, and can email the editor at [email protected]

JP Morgan

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority fined JP Morgan International Bank a total of £3.08 million (around $4.6 million) for systems and controls failings at its wealth management business. The failings persisted for two years and were not corrected until the FCA brought them to the firm’s attention in the course of its thematic review into wealth management firms and the suitability of their advice. The FCA identified a number of issues with JPMIB’s processes and an inability to demonstrate client suitability from its client files.

Among the issues identified by the FCA were: client files which were not kept up to date or that did not retain important client suitability information, a computer-based record system that did not allow sufficient information to be retained, suitability reports that failed adequately to contain a statement of the client’s demands and needs, and the fact that communications to confirm client suitability profiles were not always sent to the client (as required by JPMIB’s own policy).

UBS

The Zurich-headquartered bank agreed to pay around SFr1.4 billion (around $1.53 billion) in fines and related payments to the US, Swiss and UK authorities to settle investigations that Switzerland’s largest bank manipulated interbank interest rates. The UK’s Financial Services Authority said that UBS’ offences were widespread and “do not make for pretty reading”. The FSA said it had found at least 2,000 requests for inappropriate interest rate submissions, as well as a number of emails and other communications about the issue. As part of the proposed agreement with the US Department of Justice, UBS Securities Japan Co has agreed to enter a plea to one count of wire fraud relating to the manipulation of certain benchmark interest rates, including Yen LIBOR. Statements from other regulators were due at the time of this update going to press.

Societe Generale

Japan’s Financial Services Agency in October ordered the suspension of Societe Generale’s Japanese private banking business, after discovering “serious violations of laws and regulations”, during an inspection.

The FSA took administrative action against the French lender, after “serious problems that may impede sound and appropriate business operations were recognised, regarding the governance system, the compliance system, and the customer protection management system”.

SocGen had to suspend most of its private banking division, which meant not accepting new money and soliciting for new money, between 23 October 2012 to 22 November 2012. SocGen had also to suspend most of its trust business in the corporate division between 23 October 2012 to 22 January 2013, which the bank said is a non-core asset.

The French banking giant has also been reprimanded by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission for lack of internal controls of its wealth management activities in its Hong Kong branch, leading it to reimburse customers more than $11 million (amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise stated). The SFC raised concerns that, in over 3,000 transactions undertaken between April 2003 and January 2006, customers of the bank’s Hong Kong-based wealth management activities paid or received a different price for over-the-counter products, from the actual price transacted for them by SocGen, with the difference, or margin, being retained by the bank as a fee.

Barclays

UK-listed Barclays has incurred penalties from US and UK authorities totalling £290 million (around $455 million) for misconduct relating to the inter-bank interest rate market. Chief executive Bob Diamond, a high-profile character renowned for his large bonuses and hard-charging style in running the bank, has resigned. Lord (Adair) Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, the UK regulator, branded the LIBOR-rigging as a huge blow to London’s reputation as a financial capital. The FSA is probing other banks; a letter sent to the New York Federal Reserve, and recently published, mentioned Lloyds Banking Group as a firm that is possibly implicated. The US Justice Department is carrying out a criminal investigation into the rate-rigging affair. Lloyds has declined to comment on the claims that it was involved.

HSBC

HSBC agreed to make a total payment of $1.92 billion to settle a US criminal investigation over breaches of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, said to be the biggest penalty ever paid by a bank for such transgressions.

The UK/Hong Kong-listed HSBC created dramatic headlines earlier in the year when its global compliance boss, David Bagley, resigned in front of a US Senate Committee that was grilling HSBC executives and other persons about a report claiming widespread shortcomings in how HSBC operated anti-money laundering controls. It was said that money laundering failings facilitated monies for drug gangs, rogue states such as Iran, and terrorists.

JP Morgan

Earlier it was revealed that the US bank had suffered losses of $2 billion, which had prompted a blunt apology from chief executive Jamie Dimon. Ina Drew stepped down as head of the chief investment office. The losses hit the image of a blue-blooded Wall Street firm that, unlike many of its peers, had seemed to emerge almost stronger from the 2008 financial turmoil. The issue has also reignited debate on how large banking firms should be structured to protect depositors. Commenting about its second-quarter results, the bank noted there had been “significant risk reduction” allowing the firm to move substantially all remaining synthetic credit positions to the investment bank. The CIO synthetic credit group has been shut down.

Coutts

The UK-based private bank was fined £8.75 million (around $13.8 million) by the FSA, the sixth-largest fine ever handed out by the regulator, for failing to take reasonable care to establish and maintain effective anti-money laundering systems and controls relating to high-risk customers, including “politically exposed persons”.

Merrill Lynch

The Bank of America-owned firm was fined $2.8 million for supervisory failures that led to it overcharging clients $32 million in unwarranted fees. The US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also imposed the fine on the US securities firm for failing to provide certain required trade notices. Merrill Lynch repaid the nearly 100,000 affected clients with interest.

UBS

The Irish Central Bank fined UBS’ international life insurance division in relation to various breaches of a new act introduced to protect the financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing. The Central Bank of Ireland and UBS agreed on 19 June that the latter will pay a financial penalty of €65,000 (around $81,700) for failing to comply with specific requirements of the Criminal Justice Act 2010.

The life insurer, part of the Swiss wealth management and banking group, was not accused of terrorist financing or money laundering as such. Among the breaches were failing to instruct staff and directors about the new directives promptly after the Act had come into force in July 2010. The firm had also failed to adopt adequate written policies and procedures in relation to the identification and reporting of suspicious transactions, the central bank said in a statement. The central bank’s anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing supervisory unit identified these breaches during an inspection of the firm carried out in December 2010.

Standard Chartered

On 15 August, Standard Chartered agreed with authorities in New York to pay a civil penalty of $340 million to settle charges over transactions linked to Iran. “The New York State Department of Financial Services and Standard Chartered Bank have reached an agreement to settle the matters raised in the DFS Order dated 6 August 2012. The parties have agreed that the conduct at issue involved transactions of at least $250 billion,” according to a statement issued by Benjamin Lawsky, New York Superintendent of Financial Services.

In December 2012, the bank agreed a $327 million settlement with US authorities for rules violations relating to a period between 2001 and 2007.

“The settlements are the product of an extensive internal investigation that led the bank voluntarily to report its findings concerning past sanctions compliance to these US authorities, and nearly three years of intensive cooperation with regulators and prosecutors,” it said. “Under the terms of the OFAC Settlement Agreement, the Deferred Prosecution Agreements with the Department of Justice and the District Attorney’s Office, and the Cease & Desist Order and Order of Assessment of a Civil Money Penalty with the Federal Reserve, no further action will be taken against Standard Chartered by these authorities if it meets the conditions set out in the agreements,” it said.

Wells Fargo

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the firm’s brokerage firm and a former vice president for selling products tied to mortgage-backed securities without fully understanding their complexity or disclosing the risks to investors. Wells Fargo agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle after the SEC found it relied excessively on rating agencies when selling products. The money will be placed into a fund for the benefit of harmed investors. The products were sold by Minneapolis-based Wells Fargo Brokerage Services (now Wells Fargo Securities), between January 2007 and August 2007.

BlackRock

The Financial Services Authority fined BlackRock Investment Management  (UK) £9.5 million ($15.3 million) for failing to protect client money adequately.

Nikolai Battoo

The US Securities and Exchange Commission froze the US-based assets of an asset manager and two of his companies for fraudulently proclaiming to investors a track record of “exceptional risk-adjusted returns”, when in fact “particularly heavy losses” were incurred in 2008. According to the SEC, Nikolai Battoo claimed to manage $1.5 billion on behalf of investors globally, $100 million of which was on behalf of US-based investors. The losses he suffered in 2008 were due to his investments in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme – in which several Battoo-managed hedge funds were heavily invested – and a failed derivative investment programme.

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