FINRA Levies $6 Million Fine on Deutsche Bank For Late “Blue Sheets”

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest independent regulator for all securities firms ‎doing business in the United States, said on Wednesday that it has fined Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. $6 million for ‎failing to provide accurate and complete “blue sheets” on ‎over 1 million trades from 2008 to 2015, according to a FINRA statement.‎

Deutsche Bank neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry ‎of FINRA’s findings. Also, the bank has agreed to implement enhancements to meet ‎regulatory reporting requirements and retain an independent consultant to remedy ‎issues related to so-called blue sheets, as part of its settlement with the Wall Street’s self-‎regulator.‎

According to federal securities laws and self-Regulation Regulation Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Read this Term rules, firms are required to ‎provide certain trade data, aka blue sheets, to FINRA and other regulators ‎electronically upon request. FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term Commission ‎‎(SEC) regularly request such information to help prevent and stop market manipulation and ‎insider trading. ‎

Essential ‎Data

Blue sheets provide critical detailed information about securities ‎transactions, including the security, trade date, price, share quantity, customer ‎name, and whether it was a buy, sale or short sale. ‎

Last year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Oz Management LP, $4.25 million ‎after providing inaccurate blue sheets which consequently led to inaccuracies to the tune of ‎approximately 552 million shares in the brokers’ books and records.‎

Cameron Funkhouser, Executive Vice President and Head of FINRA’s Office of ‎Fraud Detection and Market Intelligence, said: “Firms are expected to provide ‎complete, accurate and timely blue sheet data in response to regulatory requests. ‎Incomplete and inaccurate blue sheet data compromises our ability to identify ‎individuals engaging in insider trading schemes and other fraudulent activity.” ‎

‎“Firms must invest the resources necessary to ensure that they are providing ‎complete and accurate blue sheet data whenever requested – without exception,” concluded Funkhouser.

‎ According to FINRA, Deutsche Bank’s blue sheet systems experienced significant failures, ‎including programming errors in system logic, from at least 2008 through 2015. ‎These failures caused the firm to submit thousands of blue sheets to regulators that ‎misreported or omitted critical information.

The regulator said also that from January 2014 to August 2015, approximately 40 ‎percent of Deutsche Bank’s blue sheets ‎submissions did not meet regulatory ‎deadlines, typically 10 business days to ‎respond to the information request. ‎Furthermore, ‎between July and August 2015, more than 90 percent of ‎Deutsche ‎Bank’s blue sheets were not submitted to FINRA on a timely basis.‎