UK watchdog fines FX broker TFS-ICAP for misleading clients

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Financial Conduct Authority is seen on its building in Canary Wharf, London April 1, 2013. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s financial regulator on Monday fined currency options broker TFS-ICAP 3.44 million pounds ($4.60 million) for giving misleading information to customers about trades.

The Financial Conduct Authority said that between 2008 and 2015, brokers at the firm were telling customers that a trade had occurred at a partiular price or quantity, when no such trade had actually taken place, a practice known as “printing”.

The fine, following an investigation that also involved regulators from the United States, would have been five million pounds had TFS-ICAP not agreed to resolve the case, the FCA said.

“The FCA is grateful for the assistance provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the United States in this investigation,” the watchdog said in a statement.

($1 = 0.7484 pounds)

Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Tom Arnold

source: reuters.com