UK bank hit with $150 million fine – told to fire employee

Barclays fined $150m for electronic FX trading misconduct

From Finextra –

“Barclays has been slapped with a $150 million fine by New York State’s financial regulator and told to fire an employee over an automated system used to reject unprofitable client orders on its electronic foreign exchange trading platform.

Barclays employed a system called 'Last Look' on its FX trading platform which placed a milliseconds-long hold period between a client placing an order and it being executed by the bank.

The delay was designed to be a defensive bulwark against high-frequency traders using their more nimble systems to outflank market makers like Barclays and acting on price information with "toxic flow" orders”.

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Barclays has two blockchain 'labs' in London and is planning 45 experiments with the technology

From Business Insider –

“Like pretty much every other major bank at the moment, Barclays is very interested in the potential of the blockchain, the technology that underpins bitcoin.

The Sunday Times reported this week that Barclays is planning to let charities accept bitcoin later this year, leveraging its partnership with bitcoin exchange Safello that was announced earlier this year.

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Barclays must face U.S. class action over Libor

From Reuters –

“Barclays Plc shareholders who accused the British bank in a lawsuit of inflating its stock price by manipulating the interest rate known as Libor may pursue their case as a class action, a U.S. judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan, whose May 2013 dismissal of the case was overturned by an appeals court, said the claims were similar enough to justify letting the shareholders sue as a group.

She nonetheless said in a 77-page decision that the shareholders face "significant obstacles" to proving damages, including over whether any stock price inflation had dissipated once Barclays started reporting Libor accurately.

Class actions make it easier for plaintiffs to recover larger sums at lower costs than if they sue individually.

Barclays spokesman Marc Hazelton declined to comment.”

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