WASHINGTON–The Federal Reserve Board and the New York State Department of Financial Services have joined to fine Goldman Sachs Group $109.5-million for what the regulators said was unsafe and unsound practices in its foreign exchange (FX) trading business.
“The Board levied the fine for deficiencies in Goldman's internal controls and oversight of traders who buy and sell U.S. dollars and foreign currencies for the firm's own accounts and for customers,” the Federal Reserve said in a statement. “The firm failed to detect and address its traders' use of electronic chatrooms to communicate with competitors about trading positions, including around benchmark fixes, and failed to detect and address the disclosure of confidential client information. The board's order requires Goldman to improve its controls and compliance risk management for the firm's FX trading.”
Goldman Sachs is paying $54.75 million to the Fed and the New York State Department of Financial Services, respectively.