Banking
Barclays bank charged with $44 million fine over gold price fix
LONDON – Just a day after beenwas fined for rigging Libor interest rates in 2012, Barclays Plc has been fined 26 million pounds ($43.8 million) for failures in internal controls that allowed a trader to manipulate the setting of gold prices,.
Britain’s Barclays is the first bank to be fined over attempted manipulation of the 95-year-old London gold market daily “fix”, although a source familiar with the fine said it was a one-off and not part of a wider investigation into gold price rigging.
It marks another blow to Barclays’ attempts to put past problems behind it.
The Financial Conduct Authority said on Friday there were failings at Barclays from 2004 until 2013, but the key event occurred on June 28, 2012, a day after UK and U.S. regulators fined it $450 million over attempted Libor rigging.
“A firm’s lack of controls and a trader’s disregard for a customer’s interests have allowed the financial services industry’s reputation to be sullied again,” said Tracey McDermott, the FCA’s director of enforcement and financial crime.
The FCA said it had banned former Barclays trader Daniel James Plunkett and fined him 95,600 pounds for exploiting weaknesses in the bank’s systems.
“Plunkett’s actions came the day after the publication of our Libor and Euribor action against Barclays. The investigation and outcomes in that case meant that the firm, and Plunkett, were clearly on notice of the potential for conflicts of interests around benchmarks,” McDermott said.
Plunkett fixed the price in order to avoid the payment of $3.9 million to a customer under an option, which boosted his own trading book by $1.75 million, the FCA said. The bank later compensated the client in full.
On the eve of June 28, Plunkett sent an email to commodities colleagues saying that he was hoping for a “mini puke” the following day. The FCA understood this to mean a drop in the price of gold ahead of the fixing.
Plunkett was a director on the precious metals desk at Barclays and was responsible for pricing products linked to the price of precious metals and managing Barclays’ risk exposure to those products. The FCA said Plunkett gave the watchdog and Barclays untruthful accounts of his trading activity.
Attempts by Reuters to locate and contact Plunkett online were not immediately successful.
RESTORING REPUTATION
Barclays Chief Executive Antony Jenkins is attempting to restore the bank’s reputation after a series of scandals, but the emergence of past sins are hampering his efforts. He has said its culture, which has been criticized as high-risk, high-reward, had to change and that systems and controls were improving.
“We very much regret the situation that led to this settlement … these situations strengthen our resolve to improve,” Jenkins said in a statement on Friday.
The FCA said Barclays co-operated with the investigation, which reduced its fine by 11 million pounds.
Barclays was the first bank to be fined for attempted manipulation of Libor, although other banks have since been fined more.
Barclays’ head of spot gold trading, Marc Booker, left the bank earlier this month as part of the bank’s restructuring and its exit from the commodity business.
The Libor rigging scandal has put scrutiny on how all benchmark prices are set, including London’s gold “fix”, which dates back to 1919.
Banks arrive at the gold fix through matching buy and sell orders during a twice-daily telephone call, which miners, jewelers and central and commercial banks use to trade gold.
The 117-year old London silver price fix set by Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Bank of Nova Scotia will cease in August, and greater regulatory scrutiny is forcing major changes in how all precious metals prices are set.
The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has launched consultation on a possible alternative to the silver benchmark into a legally watertight system that could then be applied to the other precious metals fixes, sources said.
The FCA and several other regulators, including Bafin in Germany and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, have indicated they also are looking at the gold fix.
In years gone by, seats at the gold and silver fixing tables were a mark of distinction for a bank, but now most banks do not want to be involved.
Four banks now set the gold price – HSBC, Societe Generale, Bank of Nova Scotia and Barclays. A former fifth member of the fix, Deutsche Bank, resigned on May 12 without a replacement.
The FCA said it was checking with London Gold Market Fixing Limited to see how it was complying with new global rules for administering benchmarks that were brought in after the Libor scandal began to unfold.
The LBMA and London Gold Market Fixing could not immediately reached for comment.
– REUTERS
Banking
Millions of customers still stranded worldwide 24 hours after GT Bank online operations suffered attacks
By Yemie ADEOYE
GT Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading banks, with operations across Africa and the United kingdom, and with an asset base of about US$3.11 trillion is under a cyber attack which has left millions of its customers across the world stranded in the last 24 hours.
The bank which was renowned for its seamless online operations at inception has suffered dwindling online efficiency in recent years and this current attack didn’t come as a surprise to many of its numerous customers. However, it is becoming worrisome that over 24 hours after its online operations went down, the bank has not been able to arrest the situation and restore its online services.
Stranded GT Bank customers outside the banks premises
Several customers of the bank took to their X (formerly known as twitter) handles to express their frustrations at the bank, as several of the customers in the diaspora are unable to access their accounts and carry on with their transactions. A customer , Jeff55 who lamented on his X handle about the development, stated that it is a thing of shock that a bank of this size couldn’t afford to have the necessary tools and experts to ensure a full protection of its online operations in this age and time.
Another customer Dimma stated that while Cybersecurity training may seem tedious, the recent #GTBank hack is a stark reminder that everyone is just a click away from a devastating attack.
Several media organisations had reported that hackers have stolen GT Bank website, and intercepted customers Data in massive phishing operation.
At the time of filing this report, Biztellers.com.ng checks on the banks website shows that it is still down and unaccessible, and neither GT Bank media and communications unit nor any of its agencies or surrogates have commented officially on the development.
Says output surge buoyed by reforms he announced in May 2024 to address gaps in PIA
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday declared a resurgence in the oil & gas industry, commending the increased crude production to 1.6 million barrels per day.
The president, who said this in a national broadcast, maintained that the resurgence was buoyed by the reforms he announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Nigeria’s crude oil output got a boost to 1.61 million barrels per day in July 2024 through the president’s directive and the industry leadership provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Acknowledging what he called a resurgence of the once-declining oil and gas industry in his Sunday-morning broadcast to the nation, President Tinubu said that oil investors are coming back to Nigeria.
He said; “Our once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence on the back of the reforms I announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act. Last month, we increased our oil production to 1.61 million barrels per day, and our gas assets are receiving the attention they deserve. Investors are coming back, and we have already seen two Foreign Direct Investments signed of over half a billion dollars since then.
Read Also : BREAKING: Sell Crude To Dangote Refinery In Naira – Tinubu To NNPC LtdRead Also : BREAKING: Sell Crude To Dangote Refinery In Naira – Tinubu To NNPC Ltd
“Fellow Nigerians, we are a country blessed with both oil and gas resources, but we met a country that had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol, neglecting its gas resources to power the economy.
We were also using our hard-earned foreign exchange to pay for and subsidise its use. To address this, we immediately launched our Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (CNG) to power our transportation economy and bring costs down.
This will save over two trillion Naira a month, being used to import PMS and AGO and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and education.
“To this end, we will be distributing a million kits of extremely low or no cost to commercial vehicles that transport people and goods and who currently consume 80% of the imported PMS and AGO.
“We have started the distribution of conversion kits and the setting up of conversion centres across the country in conjunction with the private sector. We believe that this CNG initiative will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 per cent and help to curb inflation.”
Plans are in top gear for the 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the FBN Holdings Plc.
The management made this disclosure in a notice it filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, where it averred that it has not been served with any court order against the proposed AGM.
According to notice, which was signed by the acting Company Secretary, Adewale Arogundade, FBN Holding said, “The attention of FBN Holdings Plc (the Company) has been drawn to recent media reports purporting that the Company has received a Court Order stopping it from holding the Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for August 15, 2023.
“We confirm that this assertion is a false narrative as the Company has, as at the date hereof, not been served with any court order to stop the forthcoming AGM.
“Suffice to mention that the AGM is a statutory meeting of Shareholders that must be held in accordance with the law, further to which the Company will notify the regulators and the public as appropriate if there is any lawful order to restrain the Company from conducting same.
“We hereby assure our esteemed Shareholders that the AGM shall hold on August 15, 2023, as planned and we look forward to their attendance and active participation at the meeting.”
However, court orders published in national dailies showed that the Federal High Court in Lagos had issued an order against the financial institution, barring it from holding its 11th AGM.
The order was entered pursuant to a petition by Olusegun Onagoruwa, in suit No: FHC/L/CP/1271/2022. It was addressed to the bank and some other bank officials.
It read, “Take notice that unless you obey the directives in the judicial order contained in the order made on July 15, 2022, by the Federal High Court, Lagos, by refraining from proceeding with the 11th Annual General Meeting of FBN Holdings Limited proposed for August 15, 2023, from seeking approval to issue or raise share capital in any manner whatsoever, from appointing or confirming the appointment of new directors, or in any other manner taking any step towards implementing, actualising enforcing resolution of the 10th Annual General Meeting of FBN Holdings Plc held on June 20, 2022, or in any other manner overreaching, disobeying or undermining the said order of a court, you will be guilty of contempt of court and you will be liable to be committed to prison and to there imprisoned.”
Biztellers brought you a report that a segment of shareholders had staged a protest at the headquarters of the bank on Monday, calling for the AGM to be held, as well as soliciting regulatory interventions.
It is expected that at the AGM, FHN Holdings is poised to breathe life into plans to seek shareholders’ approval to raise N150bn fresh capital via a rights issue and elect new directors including billionaire, Femi Otedola and Samson Ariyibi among other resolutions.
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