Barclays, Credit Suisse to pay record fines over dark-pool trading

Barclays and Credit Suisse will pay a combined $154.3 million in fines and disgorgement after settling with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and New York state attorney general on charges they misled investors in their dark pools.

Officials told Reuters on Sunday that Barclays will admit it broke the law and pay a $70 million fine split between the SEC and New York State. The bank will also agree to install an independent monitor to keep an eye on its dark pool, a private exchange for trading securities where orders are not visible to other traders until they are completed. Credit Suisse will pay $60 million, with the fine split between the SEC and New York State, plus $24.3 million in disgorgement to the SEC for 117 million illegal sub-penny orders in its dark pool, Reuters reports. Under the settlement, they will neither admit nor deny wrongdoing.

In 2014, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accused Barclays of covering up the fact that predatory high-speed traders were in their dark pool. The settlements are the two largest fines ever paid in connection with cases involving dark pools, Reuters reports.

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