The top US derivatives regulator handed out $1.72 billion in fines last year, a drop of 47% from 2014.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had a particularly busy year in 2014 where FX benchmark rigging fines accumulated to $1.4 billion across five banks. They led to a record year of enforcement penalties as the CFTC handed out $3.27 billion in levies.
In 2015, Deutsche Bank accounted for the largest portion of the total after receiving an $800 million penalty for its role in the Libor manipulation.
Barclays also had a total of $515 million bill across two fines – $115 million for attempted manipulation and false reporting of US dollar ISDAFIX swap rates and $400 million for the same charges on FX benchmark rates.
The CFTC’s latest fine was the third largest of 2015 when it ordered JP Morgan to pay $100 million for failure to disclose conflicts of interest to clients of its US-based wealth management business.