Barclays Hit With $1 Million Fine by FINRA for Index Data

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) settled a $1 million fine with Barclays Capital Inc late last month. The regulatory body claimed the firm issued flawed data on a bond index it published and then failed to fix for months after discovering the problem. Barclays allegedly published inaccurate coupon return information for a bond index, known as the Pan Euro ABS Floating Rate Index. It was used by investors to monitor the performance and credit quality of the European asset-backed securities market. For three and a half years, Barclays consistently understated the returns by approximately 4.3 percent. FINRA notified Barclays of this issue, but the matter was not called to the attention of the management at Barclays until another complaint was issued in May 2013. Barclays continued to publish the index with inaccurate information without disclosing the information to investors. In February 2014, the bank restated the index and disclosed the fact that it had been understating coupon returns. FINRA cited Barclays for failing to have a system in place to catch and prevent the release of inaccurate information to customers. If you invested money with Barclays Capital, please call our securities law firm in Chicago to speak to an attorney about your losses.