October 1, 2019  

CFTC Orders RBC Capital Markets, LLC to Pay $5 Million for Supervisory Failures Resulting in Illegal Trades and Other Violations

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the agency issued an order on Monday, September 30, 2019, filing and setting charges against RBC Capital Markets, LLC (RBCCM), a registered futures commission merchant (FCM), for failing to meet its supervisory obligations, which resulted in hundreds of unlawful trades and other violations over the period of at least late 2011 through May 2017.

The order requires RBCCM to cease and desist from future violations, pay a $5 million civil monetary penalty, and for a period of three years to expeditiously and completely cooperate with the Commission and any other governmental agency in all future investigations or inquiries involving the factual and legal subject matters of this action. 

“The CFTC will vigorously enforce the rules requiring our registrants to properly supervise their business activities.  Where those supervision failures are accompanied by other violations, we will pursue those violations as well,” said CFTC Director of Enforcement James McDonald. 

The order finds that between December 2011 and October 2015, RBCMM engaged in at least 385 noncompetitive, fictitious, exchange for physical wash transactions (Wash EFPs).  The order finds that RBCCM engaged in Wash EFPs in order to move positions internally between RBCCM accounts, which was less costly and administratively burdensome than other options to manage risk, and because it was believed that the exchange allowed it.  RBCCM personnel checked with the appropriate compliance officer on whether the trades were appropriate but the officer did not respond, follow up with the exchange, or provide any formal training until at least May 2015. 

Notably, as the order finds, 217 of the Wash EFPs occurred after the entry of a consent order in December 2014, which resolved a CFTC enforcement action against RBCCM’s parent, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), for wash sales and fictitious transactions.  [See Release No. 7086-14]  The order finds that RBCCM had actual notice of the December 2014 injunction against RBC prohibiting wash trading, yet the Wash EFPs continued at RBCCM.  The order also finds that RBC delegated execution and surveillance of the bank’s futures transactions on exchanges in the United States to RBCCM, but that they failed to adequately implement a reasonable supervisory system overseeing its futures transactions, and failed to detect at least 385 Wash EFPs.

The order further finds that RBCCM failed to prepare and timely file Risk Exposure Reports, disclose material non-compliance issues to the CFTC, and maintain and promptly produce required records to the CFTC.

The order also finds other supervisory failures.  For example, all RBC affiliates, including RBCCM, must follow company-wide policies and procedures, but RBCCM failed to implement several of those policies and procedures, which resulted in the various violations set forth in the order.  To wit, RBCCM did not have a system to ensure employees reviewed the compliance manual; the compliance manual did not adequately address the requirements of EFPs; there was no formal training on EFPs; and RBCCM failed to adequately monitor for potential futures wash trades.

The order additionally finds that RBCCM disclosed the Wash EFPs to the CFTC shortly before formally disclosing it in its required 2015 Chief Compliance Officer report.  RBCCM, however, failed to timely and fully respond to document requests and subpoenas issued by CFTC staff and attempted to dissuade them from inquiring into RBC’s involvement with the Wash EFPs, even from a supervisory perspective. These actions were taken despite the inter-relationship between RBCCM and RBC, as well as the prior consent order, which required cooperation of RBC in any investigation by the Division of Enforcement related to the subject matter of this action.  As a result, the order finds that the CFTC expended considerable resources trying to obtain information and timely compliance with its subpoenas from RBC and RBCCM. 

The Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Allison Passman, Joseph Patrick, Susan Gradman, and Scott Williamson. 

-CFTC-