Citigroup Global Markets Fined $1.85M By FINRA, Must Pay $638K Restitution Over Non-Convertible Preferred Securities Transaction Valuations

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that花旗集团全球市场公司（C）将因在大约22,000份不可转让优先证券的客户交易以及持续三年以上的监督缺陷方面的约22,000次客户交易中未能提供最佳执行罚款185万美元。bob200体育受影响的客户将获得超过638,000美元的利息。

A firm and its registered persons have to exercise reasonable diligence to make sure that the sale/buying price the customer pays is the most favorable one under market conditions at that time. FINRA says that instead a Citigroup trading desk used a pricing methodology for the securities that failed to properly factor in the securities’ National Best Bid and Offer. Because of this, contends the self-regulatory organization, over 14,800 customer transactions were priced inferior to the NBBO. The SRO also claims that because Citigroup’s BondsDirect system for order execution used a faulty pricing logic, over 7,200 customers transactions were priced at less than NBBO.

FINRA says that Citigroup’s written supervisory procedures and supervisory system related to best execution in these securities were lacking. It claims that the firm did not review customer transactions for the securities at issue, which were either executed manually by the trading desk or on BondsDirect. Such an assessment could have ensured compliance with Citigroup’s best execution duties. (FINRA noted that it had sent the firm inquiry letters about the reviews.)

花旗集团同意进入SRO调查结果。但是，并非否认或同意FINRA的主张。

FINRA Fines Citigroup Global Markets Inc. $1.85 Million and Orders Restitution of $638,000 for Best Execution and Supervisory Violations in Non-Convertible Preferred Securities Transactions, FINRA, August 26, 2014

Citigroup to Pay $2.5 Million for Pricing Flaws of Markets Unit, The Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2014

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