Scotiabank to pay US$127.4M to settle spoofing and manipulation case

A man leaves Scotiabank in Toronto on Thursday, April 9, 2015. (Nathan Denette/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

TORONTO — Bank of Nova Scotia will pay about US$127.4 million to settle a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission case that found the bank attempted manipulation and spoofing of gold and silver futures contracts thousands of times over the last eight years.

The commission, which pursued the case in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice, says Scotiabank traders in New York and overseas placed thousands of orders to buy or sell gold and silver futures contracts, but intended to cancel them.

The commission says the traders did this between 2008 and 2016 to manipulate prices and send false signals of supply or demand that would trick market participants into other orders the traders wanted executed.

Scotiabank was forced to pay US$800,000 in 2018 for the matter, but the CFTC now says the company made false statements during the organization's investigation necessitating another US$77.4 million in payments.

The Canadian bank will also have to pay a US$50-million penalty for failing to provide timely and accurate pre-trade mid-market marks, violating record-keeping, chief compliance officer reporting and supervision requirements, and making false or misleading statements to CFTC staff.

Scotiabank says in a release that it understands it must adhere to trading-related regulatory requirements and compliance policies and is committed to following industry standards.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2020.