CME Group Fines Citigroup for Compliance Failures in Trade Reporting

The CME Group has announced a fine of $130,000 against Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. for violations of its rules related to large trader position reporting and position change data. The fine is part of a settlement in which Citigroup neither admitted nor denied the violations.

The violations occurred from March 13, 2023, through April 27, 2023, due to issues with Citigroup's back-office accounting platform, which reached an upper limit of traded contracts due to exceptionally high trading volumes. During this period, Citigroup submitted inaccurate large trader position reports and failed to provide necessary corrections or timely position change data to the Clearing House. The inaccuracies affected a range of contracts, including E-mini S&P MidCap futures, Eurodollar futures, E-mini Russell 1000 Growth Index futures, and many others.

The CME Business Conduct Committee found that Citigroup's failure to maintain accurate records and report changes in positions led to violations of CME Rules 561 and 811. Additionally, Citigroup's attempts to re-open positions on multiple trade dates were found to be in violation of CME Rule 854.C.

The settlement requires Citigroup to pay a fine of $130,000, with $30,000 allocated to CME Group and the remaining amount covering related cases on other exchanges.