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FINAL NOTICE

E14 5JP

1.
ACTION

1.1.
For the reasons given in this notice, the Authority hereby imposes on JPMorgan

Chase Bank N.A. (“the Firm”) a financial penalty of £137,610,000.

1.2.
The Firm agreed to settle at an early stage of the Authority’s investigation. The

Firm therefore qualified for a 30% (stage 1) discount under the Authority’s

executive settlement procedures. Were it not for this discount, the Authority

would have imposed a financial penalty of £196,586,000 on the Firm.

2.
SUMMARY OF REASONS

2.1.
On 13 July 2012 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (“the Group”) announced that the

Firm’s Synthetic Credit Portfolio (“SCP”), a trading portfolio housed within the

Firm’s Chief Investment Office (“CIO”) in London, had lost $5.8 billion in the first

six months of 2012. The Group also announced a restatement of its first quarter

net income which included the Firm’s results, lowering the figure by $459 million.

By the end of 2012, the trading losses in the SCP amounted to $6.2 billion. These

losses were the result of what became known as the “London Whale” trades.

2.2.
The Firm’s failings were extremely serious. The losses were caused by a high risk

trading strategy, weak management of that trading and an inadequate response

to important information which should have notified the Firm of the huge risks

present in the SCP. Flaws in the Firm’s marking and valuation control process for

the SCP meant that the Firm failed to price certain positions within the SCP

accurately in 2012. As losses began to mount during 2012, those flaws allowed

traders on the SCP to conceal them through mismarking the SCP’s positions. At

month-end in February 2012, a substantial amount of trading was undertaken on

the IG9 10 year index. One of the purposes of part of this trading was to “limit

the damage” to the SCP. This could have been achieved if the market price of the

index moved closer to the SCP’s mark. In addition to these failings, between

January and July 2012, the Firm failed to be open and co-operative with the

Authority about the extent of the losses as well as other serious and significant

issues regarding the risk situation in the SCP.

2.3.
Following press speculation about the SCP’s positions in April 2012, the Firm’s

understanding of the underlying issues developed over time, resulting in a

number of public statements by the Group and Firm which provided additional

information as it became known. These included the publication of the results of

the Group’s internal investigation into the SCP in January 2013, and comments

made by the Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

2.4.
The Authority considers that the matters set out above and described in more

detail in section 4 below undermined trust and confidence in UK financial markets.

SCP trading strategy

2.5.
The trading strategy for the SCP in 2012 was, in the words of Jamie Dimon (the

Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), “flawed, complex, poorly

reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored”. The strategy caused the size of

the SCP’s positions to grow so large that it was at risk of substantial losses from

even a small adverse market move.

2.6.
Risk limits were being breached from January 2012. However, the Firm responded

inadequately to these indications of increasing risk. In particular, changes were

made to a relevant risk evaluation model, without the necessary amendment to

the corresponding risk limit. The effect was that, because the limit remained

unchanged, the SCP was able to take on increasing risk, without breaching its

limit.

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2.7.
In April 2012, the size of the SCP’s positions became known to the rest of the

market: traders working on the SCP were the subject of newspaper articles

opining upon the size of the SCP’s positions, and alleging that the SCP’s trading

had “helped move the index”. The SCP suffered heavy losses following the

publication of the articles, as the market moved against its large portfolio.

Mismarking the SCP’s positions and market misconduct

2.8.
From 2007, at the direction of SCP management, the traders on the SCP’s

approach to marking the SCP’s positions was such that they provided an estimate

of what they, the traders, thought the position was worth, rather than necessarily

picking the mid of what the market thought the positions were worth. In February

and March 2012 as the SCP began to lose substantial amounts of money, traders

on the SCP began to mark their positions in a noticeably favourable manner. At

the direction of SCP management, they priced the positions at the most beneficial

end of the bid-ask spread. This had the effect of making the SCP appear more

profitable and enabled the traders to conceal the scale of the losses arising in the

SCP from CIO Senior Management.

2.9.
The IG9 10 year index was the biggest contributor to the profit and loss in the

SCP. As February 2012 month-end approached, traders on the SCP, with the

knowledge of SCP management, engaged in substantial trading in that index, in

particular on 29 February. One of the purposes of part of this trading was to “limit

the damage” to the SCP. This could have been achieved if the market price of the

index moved closer to the SCP’s mark.

2.10. By March 2012, it was clear to the traders on the SCP that the adverse market

moves were continuing against the SCP’s positions. In order to conceal this from

CIO Senior Management, traders on the SCP continued to mark aggressively. By

mid-March, they had gone further and, at the direction of SCP management,

deliberately mismarked the SCP in order to conceal what one trader believed to

be genuine losses. On 16 March 2012, the traders calculated that the losses

appeared to be understated by almost $500 million, based on their estimation of

market mid-prices. Nonetheless on that day the portfolio only showed a loss of $4

million in its internal reporting to CIO Senior Management.

2.11. Shortly thereafter, CIO Senior Management began to engage with the trading

problems arising in the SCP and its traders were ordered to stop trading. The

SCP’s true losses continued to be concealed from CIO Senior Management by

mismarking, although the reported losses within the SCP by that date were

substantial and there had been further risk limit breaches.

2.12. Flaws within CIO’s Valuation Control Group (“CIO VCG”), which had responsibility

for valuing the SCP, meant that the Firm failed to detect the mismarking in the

first quarter of 2012 in a timely manner. CIO VCG in Europe was under-

resourced, its policies badly implemented and its procedures inadequate. These

flaws enabled interference with the month-end valuation process conducted by

CIO VCG, a process which was intended to act as a control over the way traders

on the SCP marked the portfolio. In February 2012, traders on the SCP

deliberately sought to narrow the distance between their estimation of the

portfolio’s worth and CIO VCG’s assessment, by seeking to influence the

independent prices used by CIO VCG.

2.13. Ultimately, in the restatement of results published on 13 July 2012, the Group

determined that a material control weakness had existed in the Firm’s relevant

internal controls over financial reporting as at 31 March 2012:

“During the first quarter of 2012, the size and characteristics of the

synthetic credit portfolio changed significantly. These changes had a

negative impact on the effectiveness of CIO’s internal controls over

valuation of the synthetic credit portfolio”.

2.14. CIO VCG failed to fulfil its function and as a result there was an absence of

adequate valuation control for the SCP in 2012. The Firm failed to price certain

positions in the SCP accurately and failed to prevent or detect mismarking in the

first quarter of 2012 in a timely manner. This failing contributed to the Group’s

inaccurate statement of its first quarter 2012 results.

Review of the SCP’s valuations

2.15. In late April 2012, increasing losses and collateral disputes with trading

counterparties caused the Firm to consider the SCP’s valuations. Firm Senior

Management began a review of the problems arising in the SCP. In explaining the

extent of the Firm’s response and its results, during an analysts call on 10 May

2012, the Firm summarised as follows:

“What have we done? We’ve had teams from audit, legal, risk and various

control functions, all from Corporate, involved in extensive review of what

happened. We have more work to do but it’s obvious at this point that

there are many errors, sloppiness and bad judgement”.

2.16. As part of the work described above, Firm Senior Management commissioned a

valuation validation review, which included setting up a number of different work

streams to gather and analyse information about the valuations and valuation

processes of the SCP. The Firm wished to ascertain whether the valuation of the

SCP was in accordance with the relevant accounting standard, in part due to an

imminent filing of the Group’s first quarter net income (which included the Firm’s

results) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 10 May 2012 (“the

Regulatory Filing”).

2.17. However, the valuation validation review which was undertaken failed to uncover

the extent of the valuation problems present in the SCP. Work undertaken by the

Firm’s Corporate Controller’s office did not adequately analyse all of the relevant

issues and relied partly on information obtained from SCP management, traders

on the SCP and CIO VCG personnel, the people whose valuations the Firm was

assessing.

2.18. Firm Senior Management relied on the work undertaken by the Firm’s Corporate

Controller to support the Regulatory Filing. Firm Senior Management gave

insufficient weight to inconsistencies raised in the information in its possession,

especially in light of the context provided by the scale of the losses in the SCP.

Other relevant information was not escalated to Firm Senior Management. More

effective analysis of the information the Firm had gathered as part of the

valuation validation review would have allowed the Firm to question better the

valuation of the SCP by CIO and to query further its reliability for the purposes of

the Regulatory Filing.

2.19. Firm Senior Management did not involve key parts of the Firm’s overall control

framework in the review. It did not inform Compliance in London that any sort of

valuation review was being undertaken prior to 10 May 2012. In fact, Compliance

was already in possession of key evidence which was highly relevant to the

valuation review and which ultimately contributed to the Firm’s conclusion that

the SCP had been mismarked. The Firm also failed to inform the Group’s Audit

Committee of the details of the valuation validation review.

2.20. On 13 July 2012, the Group restated the Regulatory Filing made on 10 May 2012.

The Group had by then concluded it was not satisfied that the March 2012 month-

end marks reflected good faith estimates of the fair value of instruments in the

SCP. More effective analysis of the information available as at 10 May 2012 may

have prevented the need for this restatement.

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Failure to be open and co-operative

2.21. In the first half of 2012 the Firm failed to be open and co-operative with the

Authority about the extent of the losses as well as other serious and significant

issues regarding the risk situation in the SCP, and on one occasion (by virtue of

the conduct of CIO London Management) deliberately misled the Authority.

2.22. Despite the Authority informing the firm in May 2012 that its “appetite for further

surprises was close to zero”, as the valuation issues on the SCP evolved in May

and June 2012, the Firm did not inform the Authority of the work it had

undertaken as part of the valuation validation review prior to 10 May 2012. Nor

did the Firm inform the Authority promptly that it had become aware of some

evidence indicating potentially serious misconduct by individuals approved by the

Authority.

2.23. One of the Authority’s operational objectives is protecting and enhancing the

integrity of the UK financial system which includes seeking to ensure the orderly

operation of the financial markets. The Firm’s failings threatened this objective.

2.24. The Firm’s conduct demonstrated flaws permeating all levels of the Firm: from

portfolio level right up to Firm Senior Management, resulting in breaches of

Principles 2, 3, 5 and 11 of the Principles for Businesses, which set out the

fundamental obligations of all firms under the UK regulatory system. Whilst most

of the Firm’s failings occurred in the period between January and July 2012,

certain flaws in its valuation processes were present from the start of 2007.

2.25. The Authority therefore proposes to impose a financial penalty on the Firm in the

amount of £137,610,000 pursuant to section 206 of the Financial Services and

Markets Act 2000 (“the Act”).

3.
DEFINITIONS

3.1.
The definitions below are used in this Warning Notice.

“the Act” means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000

“the Authority” means the body corporate previously known as the Financial
Services Authority and renamed on 1 April 2013 as the Financial Conduct
Authority

“CDS” means Credit Default Swap

“CIO” means the Chief Investment Office of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

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“CIO VCG” means the valuation control group within the Chief Investment Office
responsible for valuing the SCP in EMEA

“CRM” means Comprehensive Risk Measure

“CSW01” means Credit Spread Widening by one basis point

“CSW10%” means Credit Spread Widening by 10%

“Dear CEO letter” means a letter from the Chief Executive of the Authority to the
Chief Executive Officer of the Firm dated 13 August 2008 relating to valuation and
product control

“DEPP” means the Authority’s Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual

“the Firm” means JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

“the Group” means J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

“IB VCG” means the valuation control group within the Group’s Investment Bank

“IG9” means the CDX.NA.IG.9 index

“IG9 10 year index” means the CDX.NA.IG 9 10 year index, created in 2007 and
with a maturity of 10 years

“Principles” means the Principles for Businesses

“the Regulatory Filing” means the filing of the Group’s first quarter net income
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 10 May 2012. This included
the Firm’s results, broken down by line of business. CIO’s results were reported
as part of the Corporate/Private Equity line of business.

“RWA” means Risk Weighted Assets

“SCP” means the Synthetic Credit Portfolio

“the Tribunal” means the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber)

“US GAAP” means United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

“VaR” means Value at Risk

4.
FACTS AND MATTERS

Introduction

4.1.
This section sets out the facts and matters regarding:

(a)
Relevant background (see paragraphs 4.2 to 4.9);

(b)
Failures relating to the trading strategy for the SCP (see paragraphs

4.10 to 4.29);

(c)
Paying insufficient attention to risk systems and controls (see

paragraphs 4.30 to 4.54);

(d)
Mismarking of the SCP (see paragraphs 4.55 to 4.70);

(e)
Market misconduct (see paragraphs 4.71 to 4.77);

(f)
Critical valuation control flaws (see paragraphs 4.78 to 4.98);

(g)
Opportunities to question valuation (see paragraph 4.99 to 4.103);

(h)
Firm Senior Management’s response (see paragraphs 4.104 to

4.126);

(i)
Failure to involve key control functions (see paragraphs 4.127 to

4.132);

(j)
Events leading up to restatement (see paragraphs 4.133 to 4.134);

and

(k)
The Firm’s failure to be open and cooperative with the Authority

(see paragraphs 4.135 to 4.147).

Relevant background

4.2.
This section (paragraphs 4.2 to 4.9) provides background information regarding

the SCP, in particular its location within CIO and the Firm, and the credit

derivative instruments traded within the SCP.

4.3.
The Firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Group. CIO operates within the Firm

in both New York and London. The traders on the SCP were managed by SCP

management, which in turn were managed by CIO London management. CIO

London management represented the most senior level of management for the

SCP in London, reporting directly to CIO Senior Management in New York, which

in turn reported to Firm Senior Management. CIO also had its own Risk, Finance

and VCG functions, which were control functions relevant to the SCP and other

portfolios within CIO. The wider control functions within the Group included

Internal Audit, Compliance and the Group’s Audit Committee.

4.4.
CIO was responsible for managing the Firm’s excess deposits, and the majority of

portfolios within CIO benefited when credit markets performed well. The scale of

the business was vast. From 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2011, CIO grew in

revenue size from $803 million to $3.3 billion, peaking at $8.3 billion in 2009.

4.5.
The trading in the SCP related to the trading of credit instruments, most

particularly credit default swap indices. A credit default swap (CDS) is a type of

credit derivative. Typically credit derivatives derive their value from the

creditworthiness of an issuer of a debt instrument. CDSs allow investors to

express a view on the creditworthiness of a company by buying or selling

protection.

4.6.
An investor who buys a CDS buys protection from another market participant (the

protection seller) regarding a credit event, such as bankruptcy or failure to pay,

occurring in relation to a particular company’s debt. In circumstances where a

credit event does occur, the investor will receive compensation from the seller of

protection. The price or value of a CDS will fluctuate over time depending on

investor sentiment towards both the credit market in general and the

creditworthiness of the relevant company in particular.

4.7.
A CDS index is a collection of selected CDSs. An index allows an investor to buy

or sell protection in relation to a credit event affecting the companies whose CDSs

comprise the index. CDS indices exist for different portions of the CDS market. In

particular, they may reference different levels of creditworthiness. For example,

there are investment grade and high yield CDS indices. An investment grade CDS

index references the CDSs of certain companies whose debt is categorised as

investment grade and a high yield CDS index references the CDSs of certain

companies whose debt is categorised as high yield. The probability of a credit

event occurring on debt that is categorised as investment grade is lower than that

of debt which is categorised as high yield.

4.8.
Some CDS indices are also available in a segmented format, referred to as

tranches. Tranches may also be traded by investors and allow them to buy or sell

protection on a specified portion of the index.

4.9.
One of the indices the SCP traded significantly in 2012 was the CDX.NA.IG9 10

year index (“the IG9 10 year index”). When this index was created in 2007, it was

made up of 125 CDSs referencing the debt of investment grade companies in

North America. Buyers and sellers of this index buy and sell protection in relation

to the companies whose CDSs comprise the index and that protection lasts until

December 2017, 10 years after the index was initially created. Investors can

trade in the IG9 10 year index to hedge their other exposures and/or to speculate

on whether the value of the index will rise or fall. If an investor considers that

market conditions are going to deteriorate and the potential for a credit event will

increase and therefore the value of the index will rise, he will buy protection (also

known as selling risk). If on the other hand he considers that market conditions

will improve and the value of the index will fall, he will sell protection (also known

as buying risk).

The trading strategy

4.10. This section (paragraphs 4.10 to 4.29) sets out the establishment of the SCP in

2006, its evolving strategy, and the performance of the SCP in 2012. In

particular, this section describes the different motives for the 2012 trading

strategy, which each resulted in the addition of positions to the SCP and caused a

dramatic increase in its notional size. Market conditions in 2012 contributed to

escalating losses in the SCP, and this problem was exacerbated by the increase in

its size. The escalating losses led ultimately to the replacement of the SCP

management team in late April 2012.

4.11. In May 2006, CIO approved a new business initiative to allow it to establish a

portfolio which traded credit instruments. The economic rationale for this new

initiative was to counter CIO’s “cyclical exposure to credit”, which was identified

as “the single largest risk concentration from the operating businesses” within

CIO. The SCP was created as a result of this initiative and was run by CIO in

London. From 2007, the SCP mostly utilised CDS indices and related tranches,

trading a variety of these instruments and both buying and selling protection.

These products were marked to market each day, and the prices were subject to

review by CIO VCG at month-end. There were several flaws in the Firm’s

valuation processes (see paragraphs 4.78 to 4.98).

4.12. In 2009, the SCP generated a significant amount of revenue for the Firm. In the

first two quarters of 2009, the SCP had initially lost a substantial amount

(approximately $400 million). However, traders on the SCP had maintained the

SCP’s strategy, despite the market moving against them, and ultimately the SCP

returned to profitability, generating a healthy revenue for the Firm. The SCP was

also a particularly profitable book for the Firm in 2011. As a result of American

Airlines filing for bankruptcy alone, the SCP earned $400 million. By December

2011, the SCP had a notional size of $51 billion and had generated approximately

$2 billion in gross revenue for the Firm.

4.13. The strategy devised for the SCP in 2012 required a reduction in the SCP’s use of

Risk Weighted Assets (“RWA”), in part owing to the Firm’s preparation for

regulatory changes to its capital requirements. In simple terms RWA assesses the

relative risk of a firm’s assets. The calculation weights each asset according to the

asset’s risk, in order to determine a firm’s exposure to potential losses. The RWA

calculation, amongst other things, determines the minimum amount of capital a

firm is required to hold under relevant capital adequacy rules. The riskier a firm’s

assets, the more capital the firm will be required to hold to offset the potential

loss.

4.14. The RWA reduction proposed initially for CIO in 2012 was $20 billion. However, at

the end of December 2011, CIO Senior Management requested information about

an additional $15 billion reduction in CIO’s use of RWA in the first quarter of

2012. One way of achieving such a reduction would have been to reduce the

notional size of the SCP by unwinding positions. CIO Senior Management were

informed that a reduction in RWA of $10 billion by the end of 2012 would require

35% of the SCP to be unwound. This would come at an estimated trading cost of

$516 million and would also reduce by an estimated $133 million, the amount

that the SCP was forecast to receive by selling protection.

4.15. However, traders on the SCP noted that $5 billion of the reduction could be

achieved by changing the methodology used to calculate RWA (a project SCP

management had been working on since 2011). In particular they identified that

a $1 billion reduction in RWA would result from the proposed remodelling of the

way Value at Risk (“VaR”) was calculated for the SCP.

4.16. By early January 2012 the SCP had incurred mark to market losses of

approximately $15 million. CIO Senior Management were informed that

unwinding the positions in the SCP “opportunistically” had been “somewhat

costly”. CIO Senior Management decided to “review the [RWA] unwind plan to

maximise [profit and loss]”, stating that “we may have a tad more room on

RWA”. The “room” in the RWA reduction arose from a decision by the Firm’s

Senior Management not to seek any additional RWA reduction.

4.17. On 18 January 2012, SCP management again discussed with CIO Senior

Management the fact that the SCP could achieve a substantial RWA reduction by

using a different methodology for its calculation, which would reduce the SCP’s

use of RWA by around $20 billion. SCP management recommended that this new

model should be adopted and that they should embark upon an “opportunistic

risk reduction” strategy, with the anticipated cost of the reduction being $100

million.

4.18. On 19 January 2012, the SCP suffered a loss of $50 million as a result of Eastman

Kodak filing for bankruptcy. CIO Senior Management were told by the traders on

the SCP that the SCP was not well positioned for this credit default event,

because the traders believed that certain of the protection the SCP had against

this default had expired in December 2011 and had not been renewed.

4.19. CIO Senior Management became concerned that, because of the loss suffered by

the SCP due to the Eastman Kodak default, the SCP may not have adequate

protection should other credit defaults occur in the indices and tranches traded by

the SCP. As a result, CIO Senior Management instructed traders on the SCP to

ensure that the SCP had appropriate “jump to default” protection, to ensure

losses were not suffered through further credit defaults. “Jump to default”

exposure is the risk of sudden defaults on debt, for example by companies going

bankrupt unexpectedly, causing immediate losses to an investor who has sold

protection on the relevant debt. In order to comply with this instruction traders

on the SCP began to buy large quantities of protection on the high yield indices.

The addition of this “jump to default” protection required CIO to pay premiums to

the counterparties from whom it bought the protection, thereby incurring a

trading cost for the SCP.

4.20. Market conditions caused the SCP to continue to lose money during January

2012. By 26 January 2012, traders on the SCP believed the year to date losses to

be around $100 million and anticipated a further $300 million in losses might be

forthcoming. SCP management proposed a strategy to CIO Senior Management

which they believed would allow them to reduce the SCP’s use of RWA, provide

jump to default protection and stem the losses occurring in the SCP. The proposal

involved:

(a)
adding positions which would better balance the SCP from a risk

perspective, with a view to reducing its use of RWA;

(b)
ensuring the portfolio was better protected from defaults in the

credit market by buying protection on high yield indices; and

(c)
maximising profit by adding positions to the portfolio which would

fund the cost of (a) and (b) above.

4.21. The strategy was intended to address some of CIO Senior Management’s priorities

for the SCP but in each case the strategy involved the addition of positions to the

SCP. It involved selling protection on investment grade indices, in particular on

the CDX.NA.IG.9 credit index (“IG9”). Selling the protection earned premiums,

which helped offset the cost of buying protection on the high yield indices, and

traders on the SCP believed that this would also assist in balancing the SCP within

an RWA reduction plan.

4.22. The strategy was duly implemented with no objection from CIO Senior

Management. By the end of January 2012, traders on the SCP had increased its

notional positions in the IG9 10 year index by $20 billion, despite noting concern

about the increasing size to SCP management:

“[T]he control of the drawdown now is generating issues that make the

book only bigger in notionals…[T]he notionals become scary and [the]

upside is limited unless we have really unexpected scenarios. In the

meantime we face larger and larger drawdown pressure versus the risk

due to notional increase”.

4.23. Nonetheless, the strategy was pursued during February and March 2012, despite

ever increasing losses. By the end of February, the SCP had reported $180 million

of year to date losses, more than half the estimated maximum loss that traders

on the SCP had forecast in January 2012 for the entire year. By the end of March

the reported losses had increased to $568 million, although the actual figure may

have been hundreds of millions of dollars higher (see paragraphs 4.63 to 4.65

below). At the same time, the notional size of the SCP had increased to $157

billion by 30 March 2012.

4.24. By 23 March 2012, CIO Senior Management became concerned by the continued

addition of positions and increasing RWA numbers. CIO Risk emailed SCP

management and CIO London management stating that CIO Senior Management

were “freaking” because it had been unaware “from the two hour meeting

[between SCP management, CIO London management, CIO Risk and CIO Senior

Management]…that the current capital numbers did not include position changes

from [7 March 2012]”. The position changes made to the portfolio were estimated

by CIO Risk to add a further $6-8 billion to the SCP’s use of RWA. The email set

out that CIO Senior Management did “not understand why this was not mentioned

by any of us in the two hour meeting…and why we have kept changing positions

this week…I haven’t seen [them] this upset since I’ve been here”.

4.25. Thereafter CIO Senior Management ordered the traders on the SCP to stop

trading, due to a loss of faith in the traders’ abilities to achieve the SCP’s

objectives. On 30 March 2012, CIO London management sent an email entitled

“synthetic credit – crisis action plan”. CIO London management noted that “as we

already had several meetings on this, we must get it right this time, otherwise we

could lose our collective credibility… Due to the size of the book, we only have

‘one move’ to achieve our dual objective of stabilizing the risk and P+L of the

[SCP] while achieving our targeted RWA objectives…[t]herefore the objective is to

determine what is the best course of action to ensure that the book is and

remains balanced in risk and P+L terms…clearly, we are in crisis mode on this.

The crisis team is to have short daily meetings”. CIO London management also

noted in an email sent later that day that the IG9 investments made by the SCP

had resulted in “almost total loss of hedging effectiveness”.

4.26. The SCP’s very large position in parts of the credit derivatives market made it

more vulnerable to market moves and served to make its positions obvious to

other market participants. On 6 April 2012 an article published in the Wall Street

Journal (“‘London Whale’ Rattles Debt Market”) drew attention to the size of the

SCP’s position in the IG9. The market reacted to the speculation about the SCP’s

positions and on 10 April 2013, the first trading day after the article appeared,

the SCP recorded mark to market losses of $412 million, although traders on the

SCP had estimated earlier in the day that the losses that day could be in the

region of $700 million.

4.27. Following the publication of the article Firm Senior Management asked for several

analyses of the SCP in order to better understand how the SCP was balanced and

its likely second quarter results. These analyses also informed Firm Senior

Management about the notional size of the SCP’s positions. One of the analyses

provided to Firm Senior Management showed an 80% likelihood of a second

quarter profit and loss result in the range of negative $250 million to positive

$350 million with a 10% extreme result of negative $650 million and a 10%

optimistic result of positive $1.725 billion.

4.28. This information was considered by Firm Senior Management prior to an earnings

call on 13 April 2012. As a result of the information received, Firm Senior

Management sent an email to another manager describing the media attention to

be “a tempest in [a] teapot driven by sour grape hedge funds and some former

baby employees”. However, by the end of April the losses on the SCP had

increased dramatically, with a loss of almost $800 million between 23 and 30

April 2012 alone. As a result of this and a number of collateral disputes, towards

the end of April, Firm Senior Management commissioned an independent position

by position review of the SCP. On learning of the early findings, Firm Senior

Management immediately installed a new management team to run the SCP on

an interim basis.

4.29. The Firm’s breach of Principle 2 as it relates to the management of the trading

strategy on the SCP is set out at section 5 below (Failings).

Risk systems and controls

4.30. This section (paragraphs 4.30 to 4.54), describes the risk measures and limits in

place for the SCP, the repeated breaches of those limits and the Firm’s response

to those breaches.

4.31. One of the purposes of measuring the risk in a trading portfolio and setting risk

limits is to alert management to the existence of and increase in any potential

risks present in a portfolio. Management can then determine the cause of the

increased risk, assess the potential consequences and devise a strategy to deal

with the issue.

Value at Risk

4.32. One relevant measure of risk is VaR, a statistical measure used to estimate profit

and loss movement ranges on a portfolio of assets. It represents an estimate of

the maximum mark to market loss over a fixed time period, assuming historical

market conditions and stated to a degree of confidence. VaR was measured at

Firm-wide level and at CIO level, with risk limits in place at both levels.

4.33. By January 2012 VaR limit breaches were already indicating that there was

increased risk present in the SCP. On 10 January 2012 both Firm Senior

Management and CIO Senior Management were notified by routine risk reporting

that as at 9 January 2012 the Firm was utilising 98% of its $125 million 95% 10Q

VaR limit, and that CIO was using $88 million of CIO’s $95 million stand-alone

VaR limit. When CIO Senior Management requested a breakdown of the CIO VaR

figures, they were informed that the increase had arisen because of trades placed

in the SCP between 19 December 2011 and 6 January 2012. On 10 January CIO

Risk also notified traders on the SCP and SCP management that the SCP’s VaR

had increased by approximately 25% between 21 December 2011 and 9 January

2012 due to its increased positions, and that the SCP alone was now using $93

million of CIO’s $95 million VaR limit.

4.34. In mid-2011, CIO Senior Management had decided that the VaR model used by

the SCP needed to be updated because the methodology by which VaR was

calculated for the SCP was overly cautious, leading to figures which were not

indicative of the actual risk present in the portfolio. As a result they had given

approval to the development of a new VaR model. In January 2012 CIO Senior

Management was notified that the introduction of the new model would result in

“CIO VaR reduction in the SCP by 44%”. That model was close to being approved

by mid-January.

4.35. By 16 January 2012, CIO had exceeded its own VaR limit and was also a

contributory factor in a breach of the Firm-wide VaR limit. The breaches continued

for three days thereafter. CIO Senior Management understood that the VaR

increase was driven by additional positions within the SCP, and that VaR would be

reduced through position offsets and the new VaR model. CIO Senior

Management did not request an immediate reduction of the positions within the

SCP. CIO Senior Management continued with the VaR model change,

understanding that it would reduce the VaR calculation for the SCP.

4.36. On 23 January 2012, a temporary increase of $15 million in the Firm-wide VaR

limit was proposed, on the basis that steps were being taken to reduce VaR by

offsetting positions and through the implementation of the new model. Senior

Risk Personnel did not ask for any further explanation and accepted the proposal.

Firm Senior Management then approved the temporary increase. The Authority

has seen no evidence to suggest that there was any consideration given to the

speed at which VaR had been increasing within the SCP in January 2012 by either

Firm Senior Management or CIO Senior Management despite the fact that VaR

limit breaches had not been a feature of the SCP during 2011.

4.37. By 25 January 2012 CIO’s 10Q VaR totalled $111 million, breaching CIO’s

temporarily increased VaR limit of $110 million. CIO’s increase had again

contributed to a breach of the Firm’s temporarily increased VaR limit of $140

million. CIO Senior Management were informed that from 30 January “the new

methodology should become the official firm submission…[l]imit issues should

therefore cease beginning from Monday”.

4.38. In retrospect, the new VaR model was not fit for purpose. Relevant expertise

within the Firm was not utilised adequately during the model’s development and

the calculation was overly reliant on manual processes and contained significant

errors. One such calculation error caused the overall output of the new model to

be halved, resulting in a significantly inaccurate final figure (although the Firm is

unable to confirm with what frequency the error in question occurred).

4.39. As the VaR limit breaches began to occur in January, SCP management sought to

“keep the pressure on our friends in Model Validation and [Quantitative

Research]” in order to ensure the new model was approved as swiftly as possible.

There was inadequate back testing of the model. The Authority agrees with the

Firm’s assessment, made in the task force report (the Group’s internal

investigation into the SCP published in January 2013), that the Model Review

Group may have:

“accelerated its review as a result of this pressure, and in so doing it may

have been more willing to overlook the operational flaws apparent during the

approval process”.

4.40. The new model reduced the calculation of CIO 10Q VaR within the SCP to $66

million, a reduction of more than 40% on the previous day’s VaR. This reduction

did not result in a corresponding decrease in CIO’s VaR limit. Although CIO Senior

Management were considering a limit reduction during February and March 2012,

no such decrease was effected by the incumbent CIO Senior Management.

Therefore the effect of the change in methodology was that, because the limit

remained unchanged, the SCP could take on greater risk without being in breach

of its limit.

The Comprehensive Risk Measure

4.41. VaR limit breaches were not the only indicators of the increasing risk in the SCP.

Another measure of risk used in calculating the Firm’s capital requirements, the

Comprehensive Risk Measure (“CRM”), showed risk in the SCP increasing during

early 2012. In calculating CRM, historical figures are used to estimate a figure for

the potential losses in a portfolio over the course of one year in high levels of

market stress. The CRM figure formed part of the Firm’s RWA calculation.

4.42. On 18 January 2012, CIO’s CRM results totalled $3.154 billion. Due to a technical

difficulty experienced by the Firm’s Quantitative Research team, CRM figures were

not calculated for the next five weeks. On 2 March 2012, CIO Risk received newly

calculated CRM figures for CIO setting out the figures from 22 February 2012.

These figures showed that CRM had doubled since the previous calculation and

was now at $6.3 billion.

4.43. CIO Risk challenged the accuracy of the numbers:

“These results, if I understand them, suggest that there are scenarios

where the [SCP] could lose $6B in one year. That would be very difficult

for us to imagine given our own analysis of the portfolio”.

4.44. Forwarding the results on to SCP management and traders on the SCP, CIO Risk

“We got some CRM numbers and they look like garbage as far as I can

tell, 2-3x what we saw before. They came from the technology guy

running the process, so probably [Quantitative Research] has not even

reviewed the results”.

4.45. CIO Risk contacted the Firm’s model risk and development group to query the

results. CIO Senior Management and CIO Risk subsequently received a clear

response from the model risk and development group’s investigation as follows:

“Based on our models, though, we believe that the $3bn increase in RWA

is entirely explained by a $33bn notional increase in short protection (long

risk) in [the SCP] between Jan and Feb…I understand that we have to

build your confidence in our models themselves but, given our models, we

believe the increase in RWA is well explained by the build up in your risk

positions”.

4.46. CIO Senior Management noted that this response was “not consistent” with CIO

London management’s explanation of the RWA position and SCP management

were asked for further information. However, the Authority has not seen any

evidence to suggest a reduction in the notional size of the SCP was considered as

a result of the CRM results.

4.47. The CRM figures were part of a broader picture that could have led to an earlier

appreciation of the risks being run by traders on the SCP. Although the CRM

figures were investigated, the Firm’s ultimate response demonstrates the

inadequacy of the monitoring of that risk within CIO.

Credit spread risk limits

4.48. Breaches of credit spread risk limits were also warning about the increasing risk

in the SCP. Two relevant limits utilised in CIO were CS01 and CSW10%. Both of

these measurements relate to the effect of movements in credit spreads. CS01 is

used to measure the sensitivity of a portfolio to a one basis point movement in

credit spreads, providing an estimate of the profit and loss effect. CSW10%

measures a portfolio’s sensitivity to a widening in the credit spread of 10% and

again calculates an estimate of the resulting profit and loss effect.

4.49. On 6 January 2012, the SCP breached the $5 million mark to market CS01 limit.

The breach continued for four months, until the limit was replaced in May 2012.

By 7 February 2012, the breach was in excess of triple the current limit. A senior

manager in CIO learned of the limit breach on 13 February 2012 and responded

that they “had no memory of this limit. In any case it needs to be recast with

other limits. It’s old and outdated”. This reflected a view within CIO that the CS01

measurement was not a sufficiently useful one, considering the composition of the

SCP. The Firm’s Investment Bank performed a more useful analysis of CS01 data,

however no steps were taken to utilise this alternative approach within CIO. By

30 March 2012, CIO’s CS01 breach was more than 900% of the limit.

4.50. In addition to the persistent and substantial CS01 breaches, the CSW10% limit

was also breached on 22 March 2012, with the breach remaining until 1 May

2012. This limit breach should have alerted CIO Senior Management to the

dangerous level of risk they had allowed the SCP to run for the last three months.

The Firm’s response

4.51. Firm Senior Management has indicated that risk limits are generally set at a low

level deliberately, in order to trigger breaches of the limit and therefore

encourage debate about the cause of the limit breach. However the Authority has

found no evidence to indicate any such debate or analysis was routine for the

SCP. In fact, instead of operating as warning signs of a potential and growing

problem, CIO Senior Management’s approach to risk measurements allowed the

traders on the SCP to take increasingly risky positions.

4.52. The Firm itself has concluded, in its own review into CIO’s losses published in

January 2013 that it:

“did not ensure that the controls and oversight of CIO evolved

commensurately with the increased complexity and risks of CIO’s

activities… As a result, significant risk management weaknesses developed

within CIO that allowed the traders to pursue their flawed and risky

trading strategies…firm Senior Management…did not do enough to verify

that CIO was well managed or that the firm was fully applying its various

risk and other controls to the [SCP’s] activities”.

4.53. The Authority considers that CIO Senior Management and CIO Risk’s responses to

limit breaches within CIO in 2012 were:

(a)
to assume the numbers provided which indicated a breach were

unreliable (as regards the VaR and CRM figures);

(b)
to doubt the accuracy of the methodology for measurement of risk

(as regards the VaR, CRM and CS01 methodologies); and

(c)
to approve temporary increases to limits without adequate analysis

of the root cause of the breaches (as regards the VaR and CS01

limits).

4.54. As a result, CIO Senior Management allowed the SCP to significantly increase its

risk profile between January and March 2012, in circumstances where a badly

managed trading strategy was already causing escalating losses. The Firm’s

resulting breaches of Principles 2 and 3 are set out at section 5 below (Failings).

Mismarking of the SCP

4.55. This section (paragraphs 4.55 to 4.70) sets out facts relevant to the method by

which the positions on the SCP were marked on a daily basis. In the first quarter

of 2012 the marks became more aggressive, in February 2012 traders on the SCP

subverted the month-end valuation control process, and by March 2012 traders

on the SCP and SCP management concealed losses from CIO Senior Management

by mismarking the SCP.

4.56. The Firm’s books and records are maintained in the United States. Therefore the

Firm valued the positions in the SCP in order to meet the requirements of the

United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“US GAAP”). The relevant

provision of US GAAP required the assets held in the SCP to be valued at fair

value. This is defined in the relevant accounting standard as the price at which

the valuer estimates the asset could be traded on the day of the valuation,

assuming an orderly transaction. The accounting standard makes clear that if an

asset has a bid price (a buy price) and an ask price (a sell price), the price within

the bid-ask spread that is most representative of fair value in the circumstances

should be used. US GAAP does not require mid-market pricing, but notes it may

be used “as a practical expedient for fair value measurements within a bid-ask

spread”.

4.57. The SCP was required to be marked to market on a daily basis. This process was

undertaken each day by traders on the SCP in order to provide a profit and loss

estimate to CIO Senior Management, CIO London management and SCP

management. The marks were inputted into the Firm’s internal systems in order

to produce reports for this purpose. At the end of every month the marks were

tested by CIO VCG, in order to verify the valuations ascribed to the positions and

enter those valuations into the Firm’s books and records.

4.58. Traders on the SCP were permitted to mark a complex derivatives portfolio worth

billions of dollars. The Firm’s expectations were that the traders on the SCP would

seek to comply with the requirements of US GAAP and the Firm considered the

traders on the SCP to have sufficient trading and marking experience. However,

the traders were unfamiliar with the relevant US GAAP provisions and the

marking standards it imposed. The Firm never provided the traders on the SCP

with any formal training, guidance or documented policy as to how the SCP

should be marked. They were not directed to use relevant independent data

sources.

4.59. SCP management directed traders on the SCP to mark their positions such that

they did not necessarily pick the mid of what the market thought the positions

were worth (which was described by SCP management as “pressing F9 like a

monkey”) but instead provided an estimate of what they, the traders, thought the

positions were worth.

4.60. In February 2012, the aggregate difference between mid-market prices and the

SCP’s marks began to increase significantly. Traders on the SCP began to mark

their positions more aggressively (moving away from the mid towards the more

favourable end of the bid-ask spread). CIO VCG recognised the differences but

did not notice this as a trend and therefore did not challenge the traders

effectively.

4.61. Traders on the SCP provided additional broker runs to CIO VCG which persuaded

CIO VCG to reduce the difference between the SCP’s marks and CIO VCG’s own

independent marks from at least $31 million to $11 million on 1 March 2012. The

traders considered they were producing “better” broker quotes for CIO VCG to

“justify” the marks. Although traders on the SCP saw CIO VCG as a control

function, one trader considered that accepting CIO VCG’s proposed adjustments

to the marks was not “the way things worked at CIO". The CIO VCG process was

flawed and in addition was easily subverted at February 2012 month-end.

4.62. In March 2012, as the losses on the SCP mounted, SCP management gave a

further direction as to how the SCP should be marked, telling traders on the SCP

to ignore the losses arising on the portfolio through the underperformance of the

trading strategy and only record those which could be explained by a particular

market event. In essence, this amounted to an instruction to mismark the

portfolio in order to conceal mark to market losses from CIO Senior Management.

4.63. Between 12 and 19 March 2012, traders on the SCP kept a spreadsheet recording

the difference between the estimated mid-market prices and the marks that had

been applied to the SCP, broken down into certain positions. One of the purposes

of this spreadsheet was to inform SCP management of the size of the difference.

On 12 March 2012, this spreadsheet showed that the difference amounted to

$203 million. By 16 March 2012, the difference had risen to $498 million, and one

trader had formed the view that this amount was now an actual loss that should

be reported. Nonetheless the profit and loss estimate produced by traders on the

SCP that day showed a loss of only $4 million.

4.64. On 20 March 2012, the difference between the mid-market prices and the marks

being applied to the SCP was so large, that the bid-ask spreads began to give

traders on the SCP a “headache”. In order to keep within the bid-ask spread, the

traders on the SCP showed a loss of $40 million. Had the full difference been

reported on 20 March 2012, according to the spreadsheet maintained by the

traders on the SCP, the year to date loss for the SCP would have been over $500

million.

4.65. On the last trading day of March 2012, traders on the SCP were aware that, as

usual, the marks they ascribed to the SCP that day would be reviewed by CIO

VCG. Given the increased scrutiny over the SCP following CIO Senior

Management’s instruction to stop trading, the profit or loss figure for the day was

also of particular interest to CIO Senior Management. SCP management

instructed one of the traders to remain in the office, after the close of the London

markets, in order to review the prices in the New York market in the hope of

getting “any better numbers”. The marks to be applied were the subject of

repeated discussions involving SCP management, who requested that the loss

shown on the SCP should be as low as possible. The losses reported to CIO Senior

Management at March 2012 month-end were $138 million for the day and $583

million for the year. This did not however include the hundreds of millions of

dollars of losses concealed from CIO Senior Management by traders on the SCP,

at the instruction of SCP management.

4.66. During April 2012 the instruction by SCP management to conceal unexplained

losses from CIO Senior Management developed into a reverse engineering of the

profit and loss figures. Traders on the SCP were given a headline profit and loss

number by SCP management and together with SCP management would move

the prices to match.

4.67. On Friday 6 April 2012, the article published in the Wall Street Journal highlighted

the size of the Firm’s positions in the IG9 10 year index, creating further

sensitivity to market moves. Activity in the US markets on Monday 9 April 2012

indicated that the SCP might suffer a massive loss as a result. The SCP was not

marked again until Tuesday 10 April (owing to the Easter Monday Bank Holiday in

the UK) at which point traders on the SCP could no longer conceal the losses in

full.

4.68. In the early afternoon of Tuesday 10 April 2012 it appeared to traders on the SCP

that the losses that day alone might amount to $600-700 million. An estimated

range of $400-600 million was communicated to CIO London management as the

result for the day. Instead, a loss of $5 million was initially reported. A senior risk

officer, who was unaware of that report, was informed by SCP management that

the reason for the estimated range was dislocation in the market. The senior risk

officer then told SCP management to reflect the market price and the losses

arising therefrom. Subsequently, SCP management directed the traders on the

SCP to show a $400 million loss for the day. However, this figure still did not

include the losses concealed by traders on the SCP since mid-March and was

more favourable than the expectation provided to CIO London management

earlier that day. The explanation given for the difference was that market prices

had improved during the day.

4.69. When the new management team took over responsibility for the SCP in late April

2012, the process of marking was revised and an objective, mechanical approach

of marking to a benchmark mid-price was adopted.

4.70. The Firm’s breaches of Principles 2 and 3 resulting from the facts set out above

are described at section 5 below (Failings).

Market misconduct

4.71. This section (paragraphs 4.71 to 4.77) describes trading at month-end in

February 2012. Traders on the SCP sold significant quantities of protection on the

IG9 10 year index, in particular on 29 February 2012 (with the majority of the

trading conducted after the close of trading in London and before the end of the

trading day in New York). One of the purposes of part of this trading was to “limit

the damage” to the SCP. This could have been achieved if the market price of the

index moved closer to the SCP’s mark.

4.72. The position in the IG9 10 year index was the biggest contributor to the profit and

loss in the SCP because any change in the price of that index would have a larger

impact on the profit and loss than for any other instrument within the portfolio.

Traders on the SCP were protection sellers on this index, so a lower price for the

index would have a positive effect on their mark to market profit and loss. The

price of the IG9 10 year index was quoted by market participants in basis points.

Basis points are a unit of measurement for determining value. By Friday, 24

February 2012, a downward movement of one basis point in its price would

improve the SCP’s mark to market profit and loss by approximately $34.7 million.

4.73. On Monday, 27 February 2012, traders on the SCP sold an approximately $1

billion notional amount of the IG9 10 year index, approximately $2 billion on 28

February and approximately $7.2 billion on 29 February. Between 27 February

and the London close on 29 February, the trades were in general executed at

declining prices (ranging from 121 to 113 basis points). After the London close

and towards the end of the New York trading day on 29 February, traders on the

SCP sold approximately $4.6 billion worth of protection at a price of 113.5 basis

points in under three hours (primarily in response to bids from other market

participants).

4.74. As at the close of trading on Friday, 24 February 2012 the difference between the

market price of the IG9 10 year index (as recorded by Bloomberg) and the mark

ascribed by traders on the SCP was 3.19 basis points (118.69 (Bloomberg) vs.

115.5 (SCP)). By close of trading on Wednesday, 29 February 2012, the

Bloomberg price had moved from 118.69 to 114.22, a move of 4.47 basis points.

The difference between the market price (as recorded by Bloomberg) and the

marks was 1.72 basis points (114.22 (Bloomberg) vs. 112.5 (SCP)). This fall in

the market price reduced the SCP’s mark to market losses by around $155

million. Traders on the SCP marked the position at February month-end at 112.5

basis points. The difference between the market price and the marks reduced by

$51 million.

4.75. The Authority considers that one of the purposes of part of this trading was to

“limit the damage” to the SCP. This could have been achieved if the market price

of the index moved closer to the SCP’s mark, for the following reasons:

(a)
The size and timing of the trading was such that there was a

potential to affect the market price at month-end. The Firm

calculated that during the month of February 2012 the notional

volume of trading in the IG9 10 year index by the entire market

was approximately $48 billion. The sales by the SCP on 29 February

therefore accounted for a significant amount of that total (circa

15%) and approximately three times the average daily volume.

(b)
The size and timing of the trading could have contributed to the

month end price of the IG9 10 year index being at a lower level

than it would otherwise have been.

(c)
The trading after the London close on 29 February departed from

the pre-existing strategy. In simplified terms, one of the strategies

for the SCP in 2012 had been to sell protection on the IG9 10 year

index to fund the purchase of protection on high yield indices. The

trading after the London close on 29 February involved selling the

IG9 10 year index outright, without corresponding purchases on the

high yield, leaving the book unbalanced. This trading caused a

further breach of the CS01 limit.

(d)
There was a potential benefit to the SCP in that the trading could

have ensured the market price of the IG9 10 year index was

maintained at levels closer to the SCP’s own mark. A one basis

point move in the price would have benefitted the SCP by $37.3

million on 29 February 2012.

(e)
In an email to SCP management, traders on the SCP described the

purpose of the trading on 29 February as follows:

“[We] have sold important amounts of protection in IG9 10

year (close to 7 bln all day…) and this will push the CS01

beyond the $25 million limit. This was related to month end

price moves that were all adverse, although we could limit the

damage”.

4.76. The Authority concludes that at month-end in February 2012, traders on the SCP

(with the knowledge of SCP management) entered into transactions on the IG9

10 year index, in particular on 29 February 2012. One of the purposes of part of

this trading was to “limit the damage” to the SCP. This could have been achieved

if the market price of the index moved closer to the SCP’s mark. The size of

positions meant that a small movement in price had a large effect on the profit

and loss position. The size and manner of the trading had the potential to affect

the price of the IG9 10 year index at a time when the SCP stood to benefit from a

lower price. Taken as a whole this constituted a failure to observe proper

standards of market conduct.

4.77. The Firm’s breach of Principle 5 resulting from this trading is described in section

5 below (Failings).

Valuation control flaws

4.78. The losses concealed on the SCP should have been discovered by the month-end

valuation control process in place, had it functioned properly in the first quarter of

2012. This section (paragraphs 4.78 to 4.98) describes the flaws in the valuation

control process carried out by CIO VCG, which contributed to the escalating losses

on the SCP in 2012 not being discovered sooner.

4.79. At month-end the marks used by traders on the SCP were assessed by CIO VCG.

The role of CIO VCG was to ensure that the positions held by CIO were marked at

fair value at the end of each month in accordance with US GAAP. This consisted of

ensuring that positions were marked at an observable market rate within an

applicable threshold.

4.80. CIO VCG was under-resourced, its written policies were not consistently

implemented and its regular procedures inadequate. CIO VCG was staffed by two

individuals, one of whom had responsibility for all portfolios other than the Asia

portfolio. The resourcing issue was raised a number of times with management in

CIO VCG between December 2011 and March 2012, but no budget was made

available. The resourcing issue was more acute during 2012 due to absence of

adequate supervision. This was at a time when the size and complexity of the

book was increasing.

4.81. The SCP was one of a number of portfolios verified by that individual at the end of

each month. He had previously worked as a trader and had been responsible for

marking interest rate derivatives products, however he had received no formal

training in relation to his valuation control role. The same individual created all

policies and procedures specific to CIO that were relevant to the role he fulfilled.

In so doing, he had adapted certain of the procedures relevant to the Firm’s

Investment Bank. Certain of these policies and adapted procedures were not

reviewed or approved by management within CIO VCG.

4.82. However CIO Senior Management had approved the internal document

authorising the trading of credit derivatives in CIO in 2006 (the new business

initiative). This set out that CIO was to have regard to the Group’s Investment

Bank’s valuations over commonly held positions. A further document dating from

2010 set out that the preferred approach in valuing CIO’s positions was to use

independent prices from sources such as Markit and Totem but also noted that

Investment Bank data “formed a subset of the data used in the price testing

process”. In fact CIO VCG did not have regard to the Investment Bank’s price

testing data as one of the sources of information it considered in the price testing

process.

4.83. There were other problems with the implementation of CIO VCG’s policies in

respect of the SCP. The first stage in the month-end verification process was to

obtain pricing data for the SCP’s transactions from CIO’s systems. CIO VCG

needed to manually copy this data into its own price testing spreadsheet row by

row. This resulted in data entry errors.

4.84. In sourcing inputs to demonstrate observable market rates for the SCP, CIO VCG

was susceptible to influence from information supplied by traders on the SCP. CIO

VCG would speak to traders on the SCP prior to month-end to obtain market

colour. CIO VCG would also discuss the results of its price testing with traders on

the SCP, including proposed adjustments. If traders felt any of the independent

prices were incorrect, they would provide further evidence, for example additional

broker quotes, in order to “justify” their marks. CIO VCG did not automatically

accept the additional quotes, save where the broker quotes reflected a recently

traded price for a product. The Authority has seen no evidence that CIO VCG

would challenge traders on the SCP as to why other broker quotes provided were

a better demonstration of observable market rates than the independent prices

sourced by CIO VCG.

4.85. For the February 2012 valuation, prices from 1 March 2012 were supplied by

traders on the SCP and used by CIO VCG, even though this was after the month-

end. This was the point at which the market prices were the most favourable to

the SCP’s positions. This reflected a lack of consistency in how CIO VCG was

determining its independent price, although CIO VCG was of the view that in a

volatile market at the end of the month, the next day’s opening prices could be a

more accurate reflection of where the market had finished. In addition (as set out

at paragraph 4.61), the control process performed by CIO VCG was subverted at

February 2012 month-end as a result of improper trader influence.

4.86. CIO VCG routinely obtained independent prices for indices from Markit, (an

independent third party pricing service). CIO VCG would obtain independent

prices from Markit, but to the extent that additional evidence was provided by

traders on the SCP it could be used by CIO VCG to overwrite the Markit price and

replace it with one of the trader supplied broker prices in the price testing

spreadsheet.

4.87. An average of broker quotes was used for tranche pricing. When additional

evidence was provided by traders on the SCP it could be included by CIO VCG in

the averaging process. An independent third party data source for tranche prices

(Totem) was available on the third business day of the month in relation to the

previous month’s prices. Given the interest of CIO London management and CIO

Senior Management in the SCP’s results, which fed directly into the Firm’s

earnings, CIO VCG was required to complete its price testing process prior to the

publication of Totem prices. Therefore CIO VCG did not consider Totem’s tranche

pricing in its verification process but would use it after the event to check the

sense of its conclusions.

4.88. The flaws in the CIO VCG process and their implementation became far more

problematic in the first quarter of 2012, given the increased size and complexity

of the SCP at that time. Some of those flaws existed prior to the first quarter of

2012. Certain of the flaws in the CIO VCG process were present from 2007. In

particular, there was no specific valuation training provided to the relevant

individual who had been in position since that time. The process was a highly

manual one and therefore inherently susceptible to data entry problems. Relevant

skills and experience held by the Firm’s Investment Bank in valuing complex

products were not routinely utilised.

4.89. Guidance had been sent to the Firm by the Authority in August 2008 arising from

a number of material mismarking incidents at other firms (the “Dear CEO letter”).

The Dear CEO letter set out a list of underlying causes that should be addressed

to reduce the likelihood of future mismarking incidents. In particular, these

included that product control staff were unable to challenge front office staff

adequately, through lack of skills or seniority, acting too much as a business

facilitation function and not enough as a control function. It also referred to

independent price verification processes being highly manual, leading to

insufficient time and resource to analyse and investigate valuation issues fully and

to exercise judgement and challenge front office valuations.

4.90. These issues were present in CIO VCG, and were not addressed even after the

Dear CEO letter was sent to the Firm. Further to the Dear CEO letter, the

Authority undertook thematic work in 2010 which sought to evaluate firms’

progress in implementing relevant changes. The Authority’s initial observations as

regards the Firm’s approach to valuation included that there was a manual

valuation control process with heavy spreadsheet reliance, valuation policy left

much to the subjective assessment of individuals performing the month-end

valuations and there was no procedure for ensuring consistency in valuation

approach between different lines of business.

4.91. As a result, the Firm introduced a “Product Champion Initiative”, which sought to

create consistency with respect to the valuation of products and price testing, and

to the extent that inconsistencies existed, to determine why there was an

alternative approach and to obtain agreement from the relevant market maker

within the Firm that the alternative approach was justifiable. The relevant market

maker for credit derivatives was the Firm’s Investment Bank. The Product

Champion Initiative was never completed in relation to credit derivatives;

however the known differences between CIO VCG and the Firm’s market maker

were not viewed as material by the Firm. The Firm also relied on their auditors’

year-end testing of CIO VCG in December 2011. A new consistency exercise

began in 2012. As a result of the Product Champion Initiative, CIO VCG learned

that the Investment Bank utilised thresholds in its valuation process. This led CIO

VCG to introduce threshold adjustments into its own process in 2011.

The introduction of thresholds

4.92. A change to the CIO VCG process was made in early 2011. At that time a

threshold adjustment process was introduced. Although the Firm did not realise at

the time, the implementation of this process was also fundamentally flawed and

the effect of its application contributed to the failure to detect mismarking in a

timely fashion in the first quarter of 2012.

4.93. From early 2011, CIO VCG would compare the SCP’s prices to its independent

price and then consider whether CIO’s price fell within a threshold from the

independent price. If CIO’s price fell outside the threshold, an adjustment would

be made to bring the price to the boundary of the threshold. CIO VCG

endeavoured to base the threshold on bid-ask spreads observed from broker

quotes. However, prior to March 2012, the thresholds were not documented, and

it is unclear whether the thresholds used reflected proper parameters based on

the bid-ask spread. In retrospect, between early 2011 and March 2012, CIO VCG

“in effect eyeballed each price difference to ascertain whether [CIO VCG] felt it

was within what [CIO VCG] believed to be a market threshold”.

4.94. CIO VCG management failed to deal adequately with warning signs raised at

March 2012 month-end. Specifically, CIO VCG had informed CIO VCG

management that the SCP’s marks had migrated to the more aggressive (and

beneficial) end of the bid-ask spread whilst verifying the March month-end marks.

In addition CIO VCG management were aware of the findings of an Internal Audit

report dated 30 March 2012. Internal Audit had made a number of findings

relating to CIO VCG, some of which were relevant to the verification of marks on

the SCP. Although action plans were in place to improve processes for future

months, no additional scrutiny of the March month-end valuation process was

undertaken by CIO Finance or CIO VCG management prior to the Group’s

earnings announcement on 13 April 2012.

4.95. One of Internal Audit’s findings which was relevant to the SCP was that CIO VCG’s

thresholds were not “formally documented” or “consistently applied” and that

they were applied without “sufficient transparency or evidence”. This finding led

CIO VCG to make amendments to the March month-end process (the draft

Internal Audit report having been considered prior to month-end). However, a

lack of scrutiny by the management of CIO VCG around these changes led to

further problems.

4.96. The thresholds were documented to some extent in March 2012 however they

were wrongly applied. The CIO VCG threshold (which was supposed to reflect

parameters based on the bid-ask spread) was applied from the independent mid-

price rather than the bid or ask price. In some circumstances this had the effect

of doubling the width of the threshold.

4.97. CIO VCG’s proposed adjustments following completion of the price testing process

would be discussed by CIO VCG with SCP management. In relation to the month-

end price testing process for March 2012, SCP management expressed the view

that the proposed adjustment was unnecessary owing to market volatility which

meant the prices received did not reflect true market prices. Following this

conversation, CIO VCG considered and amended one of the thresholds used

(which by this time had been documented) and as a result no proposed

adjustment was made to that position.

4.98. The Firm’s breaches of the Principles relating to the flaws in its valuation control

process are set out at section 5 below (Failings). Without these flaws, the

mismarking of the SCP may have been detected earlier.

Opportunities to question valuation

4.99. Flaws in the CIO VCG process, amongst other things, prevented the early

discovery of the mismarking. However, even where other warning signs were

present, the Firm did not take the opportunity to ask all of the relevant questions.

This section (paragraphs 4.99 to 4.103) sets out that there were several

indications available to CIO Senior Management that there may have been

problems with the marking and valuation of the SCP at March month-end.

4.100. During March 2012, traders on the SCP and SCP management had become

increasingly paranoid that losses were arising because market participants were

giving indicative prices to CIO which were not representative of the price at which

the market participants were in fact willing to transact. Traders on the SCP and

SCP management believed that the Investment Bank had been leaking their

positions to the market and deliberately “framing” prices against them (a

subsequent investigation by Compliance in London concluded this belief was

erroneous).

4.101. In mid-March 2012, as the SCP failed to reduce its RWA, CIO London

management suggested offsetting some of the risk of the positions either with the

Investment Bank or a third party. This was a cause for concern to traders on the

SCP, who were aware that the Investment Bank was counterparty to some of

their positions. SCP management explained in an email to CIO Senior

Management the belief that the settling of these positions with the Investment

Bank would cause a “permanent loss” to the SCP of around $350 million, because

each side of the trade would have to agree a price. This email should have caused

CIO Senior Management to seek to understand whether there was a price

variance within the Firm of around $350 million (where the SCP and the

Investment Bank held the opposite sides of the same trades) and if so, the reason

for the variance. However CIO Senior Management missed this opportunity to

seek further information, believing the matter to relate to paranoia about the

Investment Bank. CIO London management contacted the Investment Bank to

complain about the allegation of leaking prices. On hearing the allegations an

individual at the Investment Bank immediately identified that there might be a

mismarking issue at the heart of the dispute saying:

“what I see is an accusation that the Investment Bank, with someone

leaking the position of CIO, is acting against CIO [and] mismarking the

books to damage CIO”

He noted that if CIO’s allegation was true he would need to “fire a lot of people”

and stated that he would ask his senior valuation team “to take a look [at] the

marks and see if there is anything that is being done inappropriate”. This reaction

should have prompted CIO London management to make sure CIO’s house was in

order from a marking perspective. A logical inference to be drawn from the

situation, if the Investment Bank’s marks were correct, was that the mismarking

problem may lie with CIO. However CIO London management did not take further

action, assuming that the problem lay with the Investment Bank.

4.102. Following the publication of the Wall Street Journal article on 6 April 2012, the

Firm’s Senior Management requested a “full diagnostic” on the SCP by Monday 9

April. CIO London management informed CIO Senior Management that they were

unsure how big the losses in the SCP might be at the end of the second quarter,

because the figure was “highly dependent on the marks”. CIO Senior

Management were later told by SCP management that the losses should not

exceed $200 million “if we exclude very adverse marks to our book”. This email

should have heightened CIO Senior Management’s focus on how the SCP was

being marked because it highlighted the subjectivity in the SCP’s marking process

given the nature of the instruments and reminded CIO Senior Management of

how crucial the marks were to the SCP’s profitability or lack thereof.

4.103. The Firm’s breach of Principle 2 relating to these missed opportunities is set out

at section 5 below (Failings). In the Authority’s view, if managers within CIO had

asked further questions in connection with these communications, they may have

identified the mismarking of the SCP earlier.

Firm Senior Management’s response

4.104. It was only in late April 2012, when CIO’s positions began to feature heavily in

large collateral disputes involving the Firm and substantial losses were accruing in

the portfolio, that the Firm began to consider in detail the valuation processes in

the SCP.

4.105. By 20 April 2012 there were 14 collateral disputes where the SCP had marked its

positions more favourably than its counterparties. Significantly, one counterparty

made clear to the collateral management team and CIO VCG that the dispute was

only in respect of the valuation of credit derivative positions held within CIO and

not in respect of any credit derivative positions held by the Group’s Investment

Bank (whose valuations were “very much in line” with those of the counterparty).

This again highlighted to the Firm that there was a difference in valuation

methodology between the Investment Bank and CIO, and on this occasion it was

clear that the valuation problems lay with CIO.

4.106. As a result of the collateral disputes and the further escalating losses, the Firm’s

Senior Management began a valuation validation review, which included setting

up a number of different work streams to gather and analyse information about

the valuations and valuation processes of the SCP (in addition to considering risk

issues). This section (paragraphs 4.104 to 4.126) describes the work undertaken

as part of that exercise, the problems with certain aspects of the work streams

and the Firm’s flawed judgement in its evaluation of the information gathered.

4.107. In establishing the valuation validation exercise, various work streams were put

into place including:

(a)
a price comparison exercise which ascertained the valuation the

Group’s Investment Bank would have applied to the SCP’s positions,

had they been valued using the Investment Bank’s own VCG

methodology;

(b)
a review, conducted by the Corporate Controller’s office, of the

valuations assigned by traders and CIO VCG to the positions in the

SCP at March 2012 month-end; and

(c)
a further review by Internal Audit of the consistency of CIO VCG’s

approach to the SCP between September 2011 and March 2012.

The Investment Bank’s price comparison

4.108. The price comparison exercise undertaken by the Investment Bank was

conducted by the Investment Bank’s Valuation Control Group (“IB VCG”). IB VCG

took each position within the SCP and ran it through the Investment Bank’s

valuation control processes. IB VCG concluded that the SCP had been marked at

least $767 million more favourably than it would have been valued by IB VCG.

When IB VCG compared the SCP’s marks to the bid-ask spread that IB VCG had

extrapolated for the positions, they estimated that six positions, some of which

were the SCP’s largest, were marked outside of those spreads.

4.109. The results of the IB VCG comparison exercise were shared with the Firm’s Senior

Management on 28 April 2012. In the run up to 10 May 2012, IB VCG were

concerned to ensure that Firm Senior Management understood the reliability of

the price comparison exercise they had undertaken. IB VCG reminded Senior

Management that the application of thresholds differed substantially between the

IB VCG and CIO VCG and that the quality of the price discovery mechanisms used

by IB VCG were very good. IB VCG also notified the Firm’s Senior Management

that IB VCG could not recall an adjustment greater than $50 million being made

across the entirety of the Investment Bank’s positions.

The review by the Corporate Controller’s office

4.110. The Corporate Controller’s office carried out a review to analyse whether the

valuation of the SCP at March month-end was compliant with US GAAP (“the

review by the Controller’s office”). The analysis involved a review of the process

used within CIO to value positions. The Corporate Controller’s office included the

Corporate Accounting Policy function, which was responsible for advising on

accounting matters, including the accurate fair value accounting treatment of

complex products.

4.111. The review by the Controller’s office used information obtained from traders on

the SCP, SCP management, CIO VCG and CIO Finance. The analysis noted that

although the month-end marks for 30 March 2012 were aggressive relative to the

bid-ask spread, they were predominately within the thresholds used by CIO VCG

and were within the range of reasonable fair values for the instruments in

question. As a result, the analysis concluded the marks were consistent with US

GAAP.

4.112. There were flaws in the review by the Controller’s office. First, it relied on

explanations for the valuations provided by traders on the SCP, including the

timing difference between the close of the London and New York markets, general

market volatility in late March and early April, intra-day volatility which was said

to cause significant differences between maximum and minimum prices,

dislocation in the market, and a lack of confidence as to how independent

consensus pricing was determined. In retrospect the reliance placed on the

traders’ explanations was too great.

4.113. Second, the review by the Controller’s office relied on CIO VCG’s determination

that there was a difference of around $275 million between CIO VCG’s

independent prices and the SCP’s prices. This calculation was done by CIO VCG at

the direction of CIO Senior Management and was based on a spreadsheet which

CIO VCG had used in its valuation process in March 2012. On 9 May 2012, the

day before the Regulatory Filing, it was identified that there was a “signage error”

in CIO VCG’s spreadsheet calculation, meaning that certain cells had a plus rather

than a minus number. The resulting recalculation meant that the difference grew

to $512 million. This error, identified late in the proceedings, gave the Controller’s

office pause for thought regarding the reliance they were placing on the work of

CIO VCG. Ultimately the Controller’s office concluded that no further work was

necessary.

4.114. Third, the review failed to understand adequately errors in the application of

thresholds used by CIO VCG. The review was provided with information about the

application of thresholds by CIO Finance. After the collateral disputes issue had

arisen, CIO VCG and CIO VCG management had documented certain procedures

relating to the month-end price testing process. CIO VCG’s approach to

thresholds was set out in a document shared with CIO Finance and the review by

the Controller’s office. The explanation was poorly worded and ambiguous as to

how the thresholds were applied. However detailed analysis of the document

could have revealed that the process was inconsistent, the most acute problem

being that overly wide thresholds were being applied.

4.115. CIO Finance and Firm Senior Management were aware that CIO VCG’s thresholds

were wide. CIO Finance also knew that for March month-end, the estimated

difference between SCP prices and CIO VCG’s independent prices was around

$200 million prior to the application of the thresholds and that after the

thresholds were applied the adjustment was only $17 million. Whilst the review

by the Controller’s office was underway, CIO Finance requested analyses

illustrating the effect on the CIO VCG process if certain alterations were made to

the thresholds. This included a request for the size of the adjustment if the

thresholds were narrowed by half, a second request to anchor the CIO VCG

threshold from the bid or offer (i.e. around the CIO VCG price rather than on one

side), and a further request for the size of the adjustment if a maximum dollar

amount threshold was applied, as it was by IB VCG. The expectation of CIO VCG

management was that the effect of narrowing the thresholds by half would be to

increase the amount of the CIO VCG adjustment.

4.116. However, despite this knowledge, concerns about the thresholds being wide were

not explained in the review by the Controller’s office. The review noted that the

thresholds were consistent from 31 December 2011 to 31 March 2012, in contrast

to the findings of Internal Audit, who had noted that there were not formally

documented and inconsistently applied price testing thresholds.

4.117. Fourth, the review by the Controller’s office set out in its appendices that the

marks applied to the SCP had migrated from at or near the mid-point at month-

end January 2012 to the favourable end of the bid-ask spread by month-end

March 2012, with one position marked outside the bid-ask spread as a result of a

front office data entry error. The review did not address this migration of the

marks in narrative form at all and failed to analyse the potential reasons for this

migration, not connecting the snowballing losses in the SCP with the migration of

the marks. Those conducting the review and the member of Firm Senior

Management responsible for commissioning the work stream directly asked SCP

management whether the SCP had been marked with a bias towards the most

favourable prices and received a reassuring response.

Internal Audit’s review

4.118. As described at paragraph 4.94 above, Internal Audit had already carried out a

review of CIO VCG’s practices, including those relating to the SCP and its findings

were summarised in a report dated 30 March 2012. Key findings were also

presented to Firm Senior Management in the form of an Executive Management

Report. Both reports noted that there were several deficiencies in the process,

including that the thresholds used in verifying the marks in the SCP were not

formally documented and not consistently applied. Both reports were considered

by the Firm’s Senior Management in the run up to the Regulatory Filing.

4.119. In addition to the 30 March Internal Audit report, the Firm’s Senior Management

asked that Internal Audit carry out a further review of the consistency of CIO

VCG’s approach to the SCP between September 2011 and March 2012. Internal

Audit tested the SCP’s prices and thresholds against independent sources.

Internal Audit’s memo stated that:

(a)
There was a lack of documentation supporting the price testing

process in CIO.

(b)
There were problems with the thresholds applied; CIO VCG

thresholds were, in most cases, much larger than Internal Audit’s

thresholds because CIO VCG was, in many cases, taking a complete

bid-ask spread rather than the more appropriate measure of half of

the bid-ask spread. For example, in relation to the IG9 10 year

positions, Internal Audit determined the appropriate threshold to be

0.75, but CIO VCG had applied a threshold of 4.00 – over four

times wider than that of Internal Audit.

(c)
On occasions within the period Internal Audit were considering CIO

VCG had over-written its independent price.

(d)
There were manual data entry errors. These were caused by the

labour intensive process used by CIO VCG, as described above.

4.120. Internal Audit concluded that had CIO VCG applied the thresholds appropriately,

the SCP positions should have been adjusted by $307 million rather than the $17

million adjustment made by CIO VCG at March month-end.

4.121. Internal Audit did not escalate the observations set out above to Firm Senior

Management. Firm Senior Management proceeded on the understanding that

what Internal Audit had found went no further than the conclusions reached in

their report dated 30 March 2012 where they noted that CIO VCG’s processes

needed improvement.

Evaluation of the work streams

4.122. Prior to the Regulatory Filing being made, meetings were held, with a final

meeting on 10 May 2012 attended by the Firm’s Senior Management and all

relevant senior personnel responsible for the above reviews. Each responsible

individual was asked to confirm there were no issues to prevent the Regulatory

Filing being made. The tone of these discussions was summarised by Jamie

Dimon as follows:

“I sat in those meetings myself and said: believe that the Pope is over

here and the [Chairwoman] of the Securities Commission is over here,

what is the right thing to do?”

4.123. By that meeting, the collective knowledge in the Firm included the following facts

which should, if known by the Firm’s Senior Management have led them to

question further whether the March month-end valuations were sufficiently

reliable to support the Regulatory Filing:

(a)
There was a difference of $767 million between the IB VCG

valuation of the SCP’s positions and the traders on the SCP’s marks.

(b)
There was a difference of $568 million between Internal Audit’s

valuation of the SCP’s positions and the traders on the SCP’s marks.

(c)
Internal Audit identified that, had the thresholds been applied

appropriately by CIO VCG, the traders’ valuation of the SCP should

have been reduced by $307 million.

(d)
The review by the Controller’s office had understood that there was

a $275 million difference between the SCP marks and CIO VCG mid

prices pre-adjustment. On 9 May 2012, calculation errors were

uncovered in CIO VCG’s work and the difference grew to $512

million.

(e)
There were separate underlying causes for each valuation difference

identified by the various work streams. The numerical differences

were not all expressing the same problem, but identified a series of

issues as being the underlying cause.

(f)
IB VCG had stressed to the Firm’s Senior Management that the

price discovery mechanisms for the IB VCG process were of high

quality.

(g)
Internal Audit had concluded on 30 March 2012 that the price

discovery
mechanism
for
the
CIO
VCG
process
needed

improvement.

(h)
IB VCG had explained to Senior Management that the thresholds

applied by IB VCG and CIO VCG were materially different across the

two lines of business.

(i)
Internal Audit had explained that the thresholds used by CIO VCG

were not formally documented or consistently applied.

(j)
Firm Senior Management were aware that CIO VCG’s thresholds

were wide.

(k)
The SCP had sustained increasingly severe losses from the start of

2012.

(l)
The SCP’s marks had migrated from the mid-point to the aggressive

end of the bid-ask spread between January and March 2012.

4.124. The Regulatory Filing was made on the basis that the SCP had been valued by the

traders on the SCP and CIO VCG in accordance with US GAAP. Firm Senior

Management relied on the conclusions of the review by the Controller’s office.

However Firm Senior Management gave insufficient weight to inconsistencies

raised by the information in its possession, especially in light of the context

provided by the scale of losses in the SCP. Other relevant information was not

escalated to Firm Senior Management. This was because the work streams

operated in silos; those performing the work lacked awareness of the overall

context and as a result could not determine what information would be relevant

to Firm Senior Management. The Firm’s Senior Management should have taken

additional steps to ensure that all crucial information reached the appropriate

decision makers.

4.125. Had all relevant information been escalated to Firm Senior Management and more

effective analysis been undertaken, the Firm might have concluded that the

valuation was not sufficiently certain to make the Regulatory Filing. Also, in the

Authority’s view, the Firm should have given further consideration to whether the

SCP had in fact been actively mismarked.

4.126. The Firm’s breach of Principle 2 in this regard is set out at section 5 (Failings).

Failure to involve key control functions

4.127. In conducting the valuation validation work streams, the Firm did not include

Compliance in London. Had that key control function been involved in the process,

a crucial piece of evidence of potential mismarking might have been discovered

sooner. The Authority considers that this failure was a disturbing weakness in the

review as Compliance forms a key part of the Firm’s control framework.

4.128. Firm Senior Management did not inform Compliance in London that there was

even a valuation validation exercise being undertaken at all. However,

Compliance in London had already reviewed key evidence relevant to the

valuation validation exercise. As a result of a complaint by SCP management

about the Investment Bank allegedly leaking the SCP’s positions to other market

participants, prior to 10 May 2012 Compliance in London had listened to a crucial

call between traders on the SCP and SCP management, subsequently discovered

to be about mismarking in order to conceal losses on the portfolio. Compliance in

London had considered the discussion in the call to relate to how losses were

being communicated, rather than suggesting that losses were being concealed.

Compliance believed the relevant losses discussed in the call had been reported

and therefore did not consider the call merited further escalation. Had Compliance

in London been informed of the reviews being undertaken in advance of the

Regulatory filing it could have brought this evidence to the attention of the

relevant work streams at a time when the very subject of the phone calls was

being considered by Firm Senior Management.

4.129. Following the Regulatory Filing, the Firm commenced a further review of

information relating to the SCP. The Firm commissioned a management task force

review into the losses incurred by CIO. This included an extended review of

relevant communications and interviews with traders on the SCP and SCP

management. When the further reviews commenced after 10 May 2012,

Compliance in London were involved and soon after notified the task force review

of the relevant telephone call.

4.130. The Authority considers that Firm Senior Management should have included

relevant Compliance personnel in London in a review of valuation in the London

office. This was a significant failing because, by not doing so, the Firm missed an

opportunity to discover mismarking prior to 10 May 2012.

4.131. Firm Senior Management did not inform the Group’s Audit Committee of the

details of the work undertaken to ascertain the legitimacy of the valuation of the

SCP by the Investment Bank or the details of Internal Audit’s review. Nor were

the Audit Committee made aware of trader involvement in the valuation process

or the migration of the marks to the advantageous end of the bid-ask spread.

4.132. The Authority considers that the Firm’s failure to keep the Audit Committee and

Compliance fully informed was significant. These areas are control functions, with

a responsibility to challenge the Firm. Firm Senior Management should have led

by example, by recognising the need for quasi-independent oversight of the

Firm’s business practices as they related to the problems on the SCP. Compliance

could have added vital knowledge to the review process and the Audit Committee

could have introduced valuable independent oversight.

Events leading up to restatement

4.133. Although other specialists in the Firm had been asked by Firm Senior

Management to review the SCP’s valuation process prior to May 10 2012, it was

not until June 2012 that an effective and comprehensive review of the marking of

the SCP in the first quarter of 2012 took place, after the Firm’s discovery of

evidence which raised concerns about potential mismarking (see paragraph 4.128

to 4.129). There was a complete examination of the price testing spreadsheet

used by CIO VCG revealing additional errors which increased the difference

between the SCP’s prices and the CIO VCG independent pre-adjusted price from

$512 million to around $670 million.

4.134. The Firm also interviewed traders on the SCP and SCP management in the period

after the Regulatory Filing was made. One trader was interviewed on 14 and 15

June and other relevant personnel were interviewed about the marking process

towards the end of June 2012. The results of these interviews together with the

documentary and tape recorded evidence led the Firm to conclude that it could

not rely on the traders’ integrity which compromised the reliability of the marks.

When combined with the discovery of further errors in the CIO VCG price testing

spreadsheet and concerns raised over the supervision of the CIO VCG process,

the Firm came to the conclusion in July 2012 that it was necessary to restate its

earnings. The Firm also reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

a material control weakness within the Firm’s internal controls over financial

reporting as of 30 March 2012.

Failure to be open and co-operative with the Authority

4.135. This section (paragraphs 4.135 to 4.147) sets out the facts and matters relevant

to the Firm’s relationship with the Authority. In particular, the Firm did not

provide relevant information to the Authority during the first half of 2012 and (by

virtue of the conduct of CIO London management) the Authority was deliberately

misled on one occasion.

4.136. In addition to the Firm’s regulatory obligation to maintain an open and co-

operative relationship with the Authority, from 1 October 2010 CIO in London had

been the subject of a more detailed supervisory relationship. As a result, on 9

November 2010, the Authority advised the Firm in writing of particular matters

relating to CIO about which it wished to be kept informed, inter alia:

(a)
any significant growth in assets or change in CIO’s Europe, Middle

East and Asia portfolios, including the SCP;

(b)
any significant change in CIO’s level of risk appetite;

(c)
any material change to portfolio mandates or risk limits allocated to

CIO’s Europe, Middle East and Asia portfolios, which included the

SCP; and

(d)
material changes to CIO’s Europe, Middle East and Asia strategy.

4.137. On 28 March 2012, the Firm attended a quarterly supervisory meeting with the

Authority. The meeting was attended by various CIO personnel, including SCP

management and CIO London management. The SCP was discussed with the

Authority as part of a dialogue regarding CIO’s London business as a whole.

4.138. When discussing the SCP, those at the meeting did not inform the Authority that:

(a)
CIO Senior Management had ordered traders on the SCP to stop

trading: SCP management and CIO London management had

received notification by email of this on 26 March 2012.

(b)
The SCP had increased significantly in notional size: information

provided to the Authority which dealt with portfolio changes

contained no data about the substantial changes in the size of the

SCP. Both SCP management and CIO London management had

received an email on 27 March 2012 setting out that the total

notional size of the SCP on 26 March 2012 was $131 billion.

(c)
The SCP had suffered $298 million of losses in the year to date:

information provided showed year to date losses of $170 million for

February 2012 month-end and included a forecast of losses of $221

million by March 2012 month-end. SCP management and CIO

London management had received an email on 27 March 2012

indicating that the estimated losses on the SCP to date were in fact

$298 million, a figure which already exceeded the year to date

losses provided to the Authority by $128 million and the estimated

losses provided for March month-end by $70 million.

(d)
The SCP had breached its CS01, VaR and CSW10 risk limits in the

first quarter of 2012: SCP management and CIO London

management were aware of these breaches in advance of the

meeting.

(e)
The reduction in VaR for the SCP was due extensively to the new

VaR model: information provided indicated a reduction in average

daily mark to market VaR for CIO from approximately $92 million in

January to $48 million by 16 March 2012. The Authority were not

informed that the change in VaR methodology for the SCP was the

main driver of the reduction.

4.139. The Authority expected pro-active notification of these matters as part of its on-

going supervisory relationship with the Firm and the Firm was obliged to provide

it under Principle 11. The Firm’s representatives failed to notify the Authority of

these matters in the period from January 2012 and in particular at the meeting on

28 March 2012.

4.140. On 10 April 2012, the Firm, based on information provided by CIO London

management instigated a discussion with the Authority as a result of the article

in the Wall Street Journal. The discussion was initiated by an email stating, inter

alia:

“we use credit-related instruments to hedge [CIO’s portfolios] against a

stress credit environment. The activity noted in the story is simply a

balancing of those credit-related investments to reduce the impact of our

hedge”.

4.141. In continuation of that discussion, at 5pm the same day, there was a conference

call with the Authority which CIO London management led. The participants on

the call gave the Authority the following information:

(a)
There had been no material changes to the SCP since the meeting

on 28 March 2012.

(b)
The newspaper articles did not recognise that the SCP’s positions in

the IG9 index were part of a larger position that was “broadly a

hedge of the firm’s exposures outside CIO”.

(c)
VaR had been reduced from $115 million in the first quarter of 2009

to $58 million in April 2012, in part as a result of the IG9 positions

in the SCP. Yet again, those at the meeting did not explain that part

of this reduction was attributable to a change in VaR calculation

methodology.

4.142. The Authority was not informed that:

(a)
The SCP had suffered adjusted losses of $705 million in the first

quarter of 2012: CIO London management had received an email

dated 9 April 2012 providing them with updated loss figures.

(b)
The SCP was expected to lose a significant amount of money that

day, such that it would push the year to date losses in the portfolio

beyond $1 billion: CIO London management had received this

information from traders on the SCP orally prior to the call.

(c)
The SCP was currently in breach of its stress loss limits: CIO

London management was notified of these breaches by email on 4

April 2012.

(d)
The SCP was considered by CIO London management to be “in

crisis mode” and parts of the SCP’s trading strategy had resulted in

the SCP having “almost total loss of hedging effectiveness”.

4.143. The Authority considers that the tone of the call was deliberately reassuring; CIO

London management must have appreciated that by not providing the information

set out above, the message delivered to the Authority was not an accurate

reflection of the state of the SCP. As a result the Authority has concluded that (by

virtue of the conduct of CIO London management) the Authority was deliberately

misled by the Firm.

4.144. On 14 May 2012, the Firm again met with the Authority to discuss the SCP. The

meeting was attended by members of the new CIO management team who

advised the Authority of the new management changes and some of the matters

which had not been previously disclosed. However, the Firm did not inform the

Authority of any of the valuation validation work streams undertaken for the

purposes of the Regulatory Filing, as they mistakenly believed the issues to have

been resolved.

4.145. On 23 May 2012, the Authority informed the Firm that its “appetite for further

surprises was close to zero”. In late May and early June the Authority continued

to meet with the Firm to discuss the SCP. Many of the meetings related to

ensuring that the risks inherent in the portfolio were being adequately controlled.

As to valuation issues, in a meeting on 6 June, the Firm indicated to the Authority

that traders on the SCP had been “marking to where they observed”. In response

to enquiries regarding consistency between the SCP’s marks and those of the

Investment Bank, the Firm indicated that the marks for like-for-like products

“were not far off”. The Authority considers that in light of its appetite for surprises

at that time the Firm should have informed it of the results of the valuation

validation work streams including that a significant difference between the SCP

marks and IB VCG’s aggregate valuation of the SCP had been identified (see

paragraph 4.108).

4.146. On 20 June 2012 Firm Senior Management met with the Authority to discuss the

Firm’s internal investigation into CIO. By this stage, the Firm’s task force review

committee had been notified of potential problems regarding marking within the

SCP (including the evidence noted by Compliance in London and referred to at

paragraph 4.128), and the Firm’s legal advisors had begun to conduct interviews

with traders on the SCP. During the meeting, Firm Senior Management discussed

the marking process for the SCP, but gave no indication that the Firm were by

now questioning the veracity of the marks, and that Firm Senior Management

were aware of some evidence indicating potentially serious misconduct by

individuals approved by the Authority.

4.147. On 2 July 2012, the Firm informed the Authority that it had identified evidence

that caused it to have concerns about the integrity of the marks in the SCP.

During 9 and 10 July, the Firm informed the Authority of the understatement of

loss in the Regulatory Filing and indicated that the Group was analysing whether

it would be restating the Firm’s first quarter earnings. It subsequently did make a

restatement on 13 July 2012.

5.
FAILINGS

5.1.
The regulatory provisions relevant to this Warning Notice are referred to in Annex

5.2.
In assessing the Firm’s failings, the Authority has had regard to its strategic

objective of ensuring that the financial markets function well, and its integrity

objective. The integrity objective is protecting and enhancing the integrity of the

UK financial system, including by seeking to ensure:

(a)
its soundness, reliability and resilience;

(b)
the orderly operation of the financial markets; and

(c)
the transparency of the price formation process in those markets.

5.3.
Principle 2 of the Principles for Businesses states that a firm must conduct its

business with due skill, care and diligence.

5.4.
In breach of Principle 2 the Firm has not conducted its business with due skill,

care and diligence by virtue of:

(a)
The Firm’s failure to manage appropriately the trading strategy for

the SCP (in the first quarter of 2012). The Authority agrees with the

Firm’s characterisation of the SCP’s trading strategy as “flawed,

complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored”

(see paragraphs to 4.10 to 4.29).

(b)
The Firm’s inadequate response to the indicators of increasing risk

in the SCP (in the first quarter of 2012). To the extent that

adequate systems and controls existed to measure risk, the Firm’s

response to the indicators of increasing risk in the SCP was wholly

insufficient (see paragraphs 4.30 to 4.54). The Authority considers

that the Firm’s attitude to risk management in CIO lacked sufficient

care, as demonstrated by the Firm’s response to risk limit breaches

in 2012 referred to at paragraph 4.53 above.

(c)
The Firm failed to price certain positions held in the SCP accurately

and failed to prevent or detect mismarking in a timely manner (in

the first quarter of 2012) (see paragraphs 4.55 to 4.70 and 4.78 to

4.98) as a result of:

(i)
the subversion of the valuation control process in

February 2012 by the traders on the SCP;

(ii)
the traders on the SCP and SCP management

concealing losses; and

(iii)
a flawed valuation process (see paragraphs 4.78 to

4.98 and Principle 3 below).

(d)
Weaknesses in assessing the reliability of the valuation of the SCP

(in late April and early May 2012) (see paragraphs 4.104 to 4.132).

In particular, the Firm’s conclusion that the valuation of the SCP

was reliable and the failure to involve relevant control groups in the

co-ordination of the Firm’s response.

5.5.
Principle 3 of the Principles for Businesses states that a firm must take reasonable

care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate

risk management systems.

5.6.
In breach of Principle 3 the Firm has not taken reasonable care to organise and

control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management

systems by virtue of:

Valuation processes

(a)
The Firm’s failure to ensure its marking and valuation processes

were effective which contributed to the escalating losses on the SCP

not being discovered sooner, and led the Firm to restate its first

quarter net income (see paragraphs 4.78 to 4.98). The Authority

considers that an effective month-end price verification process is

critical in ensuring the appropriate marking of trading books, and in

seeking to prevent or detect mismarking.

(b)
In particular, the Firm from 2007:

(i)
failed to provide traders on the SCP with any formal training,

guidance or documented policy as to how the Firm expected

them to mark their positions;

(ii)
failed to provide formal valuation training for CIO VCG;

(iii)
placed over-reliance on highly manual processes; and

(iv)
failed to utilise relevant skills and experience in the valuation

of complex products held by other lines of business in the

Firm.

(c)
The Firm, from 2011:

(i)
failed to ensure that changes introduced to the CIO VCG

process
were
implemented
appropriately,
adequately

documented and consistently applied.

(d)
The Firm, from 2012:

(i)
failed to ensure CIO VCG was adequately resourced, given

the increasing size and complexity of the SCP;

(ii)
failed to ensure CIO VCG was operating with adequate

supervision, given the increasing size and complexity of the

SCP; and

(iii)
failed to prevent calculation errors within the spreadsheet

used to price test the SCP.

Risk management systems

(e)
The Firm’s flawed approach to the measurement of risk within the

SCP, as demonstrated by the errors in the new VaR model, meant

that it failed to ensure it had adequate and effective systems to

monitor risk within the SCP (from January 2012) (see paragraphs

4.30 to 4.54).

Principle 5

5.7.
Principle 5 of the Principles for Businesses states that a firm must observe proper

standards of market conduct.

5.8.
By virtue of the actions of traders on the SCP and with the knowledge of SCP

management, on 29 February 2012, the Firm engaged in a substantial amount of

trading by selling protection on the IG9 10 year index. The Authority considers

that one of the purposes of part of this trading was to “limit the damage” to the

SCP. This could have been achieved if the market price of the index moved closer

to the SCP’s mark. The size and manner of the trading had the potential to affect

the price of the IG9 10 year index at a time when the SCP stood to benefit from a

lower price (see paragraphs 4.71 to 4.77). As a result of these matters the Firm

failed to observe proper standards of market conduct.

5.9.
Principle 11 of the Principles for Businesses states that a firm must deal with its

regulators in an open and cooperative way, and must disclose to the Authority

anything relating to the firm of which the Authority would reasonably expect

notice.

5.10. Between January 2012 until 2 July 2012 the Firm breached Principle 11 by failing

to deal with the Authority in an open and co-operative way (see paragraphs 4.135

to 4.147). In particular the Firm:

(a)
should have proactively notified the Authority as problems arose

within the SCP. On 28 March 2012 the Firm provided incomplete

information to the Authority regarding the SCP.

(b)
by virtue of the conduct of CIO London management deliberately

misled the Authority about the situation within the SCP on 10 April

2012.

(c)
did not inform the Authority of the details of significant and serious

problems and events in relation to the SCP until 14 May 2012.

(d)
did not inform the Authority of the fact of its extensive valuation

reviews until 2 July 2012.

5.11. The Principle 11 breach is aggravated by the fact that the Firm was subject to a

more detailed supervisory relationship with the Authority at the relevant time.

5.12. The failings set out above are particularly serious because they demonstrate

shortcomings from the SCP traders through to Firm Senior Management. Further,

there were multiple issues and breaches, including flaws in the CIO VCG process,

that pre-existed the problems in the first quarter of 2012.

5.13. By failing to manage appropriately the trading strategy, failing to monitor and

manage risk suitably, failing to carry out adequate valuations and failing to act in

accordance with proper standards of market conduct, the Firm created a risk to

the integrity of the UK financial system. Poor conduct by firms operating in the UK

can affect the integrity of the markets. Financial institutions and consumers need

to trust that the UK markets are sound, stable and resilient. The Firm’s failings

had the potential to put in jeopardy the soundness and stability of UK financial

markets and undermined trust and confidence in those markets.

5.14. This was compounded by the Firm’s failure to be open and cooperative with the

Authority. Timely and proactive communication with the Authority is of

fundamental importance to the proper functioning of the regulatory system. This

is all the more true for systemically important firms, such as the Firm.

6.
SANCTION

6.1.
The Authority’s policy for imposing a financial penalty is set out in Chapter 6 of

the Authority’s Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual (“DEPP”). Changes to

DEPP were introduced on 6 March 2010. Given that the Firm’s misconduct

occurred both before and after that date, the Authority has had regard to the

provisions of DEPP in force before and after that date. The Authority has also had

regard to the provisions of the Enforcement manual in force prior to 28 August

2007, in relation to misconduct which occurred prior to that date.

6.2.
Set out below is the application of the Authority’s penalty policy in relation to:

(a)
the Firm’s breach of Principle 3 prior to 6 March 2010;

(b)
the Firm’s breaches of Principles 2, 3 and 5 on or after 6 March

2010; and

(c)
the Firm’s breach of Principle 11.

Breach of Principle 3 prior to 6 March 2010

6.3.
In determining the financial penalty to be attributed to the Firm’s misconduct

prior to 6 March 2010, the Authority has had particular regard to the following:

(a)
The principal purpose of a financial penalty is to promote high

standards of regulatory conduct by deterring firms who have

breached
regulatory
requirements
from
committing
further

contraventions, helping to deter other firms from committing

contraventions and demonstrating generally to firms the benefits of

compliant behaviour (DEPP 6.1.2G in force prior to 6 March 2010).

(b)
The nature, seriousness and impact of the breach. In particular, in

respect of certain of the flaws in the application of controls relating

to the marking and valuation of products in the SCP, the Firm’s

breach occurred for three years prior to 6 March 2010. Market

confidence is put at risk by valuation inaccuracies (DEPP 6.5.2G(2)

in force prior to 6 March 2010).

(c)
The size and resources of the Firm. The Firm is a major

international financial institution and should have had systems and

controls
commensurate
with
the
requirement
to
supervise

adequately the complex products traded by the SCP, in particular as

the size of the SCP grew. The revenue generated by the SCP alone

in the period from 2007 to 2009 was over $1.46 billion (DEPP

6.5.2G(5)(c) and (d) in force prior to 6 March 2010).

(d)
Other action taken by the Authority. The Authority published a

number of Final Notices relating to mismarking and other general

guidance (including the Dear CEO letter) dealing with similar issues

in the same period. The Authority also gave the Firm specific

guidance around valuation issues in the same period. Despite these

previous actions and published guidance, the Authority has seen no

evidence that relevant changes were made by the Firm to the

marking and valuation processes relevant to the SCP (DEPP

6.5.2G(10) and (12) in force prior to 6 March 2010).

6.4.
The Authority considers that the Firm’s breach of Principle 3 in the period prior to

6 March 2010 merits a significant financial penalty of £20,000,000.

6.5.
The Firm agreed to settle at an early stage of the Authority’s investigation. The

Firm therefore qualified for a 30% (stage 1) discount under the Authority’s

executive settlement procedures. The financial penalty for the Firm’s breach of

Principle 3 in the prior period to 6 March 2012 is therefore £14,000,000.

Breaches of Principles 2, 3 and 5 on or after 6 March 2010

6.6.
In respect of conduct occurring on or after 6 March 2010, the Authority applies a

five-step framework to determine the appropriate level of financial penalty. DEPP

6.5A sets out the details of the five-step framework that applies in respect of

financial penalties imposed on firms.

6.7.
The Authority considers that the breaches of Principles 2, 3 and 5 occurring after

6 March 2010 arise from a single course of conduct by the Firm. In the particular

circumstances of this case, the Authority has concluded that it is appropriate to

impose a combined penalty in respect of these breaches. The Firm’s failings in the

SCP and CIO VCG permitted the concealment of losses through both mismarking

and market misconduct.

Step 1: disgorgement

6.8.
At Step 1 the Authority seeks to deprive a firm of the financial benefit derived

directly from the breach where it is practicable to quantify this (DEPP 6.5A.1G).

The Authority has not identified any financial benefit that the Firm derived directly

from its breaches.

6.9.
Step 1 is therefore £0.

Step 2: the seriousness of the breach

6.10. At Step 2 the Authority determines a figure that reflects the seriousness of the

breach (DEPP 6.5A.2G). Where the amount of revenue generated by a firm from a

particular product line or business area is indicative of the harm or potential harm

that its breach may cause, that figure will be based on a percentage of the firm’s

revenue from the relevant products or business area.

6.11. The Authority considers revenue generated by the SCP to be indicative of the

harm or potential harm caused by its breach. The Authority considers that the

relevant revenue for the breach of Principle 3 occurring between 6 March 2010

and 31 December 2011 is £357,088,000. The Authority considers that the

relevant revenue for the breaches of Principles 2, 3 and 5 occurring in 2012 is

£124,950,000.

6.12. In deciding on the percentage of the relevant revenue that forms the basis of the

Step 2 figure, the Authority considers the seriousness of the breach and chooses

a percentage between 0% and 20%. This range is divided into five fixed levels

which represent, on a sliding scale, the seriousness of the breach; the more

serious the breach, the higher the level. For penalties imposed on firms there are

the following five levels:

Level 1 – 0%

Level 2 – 5%

Level 3 – 10%

Level 5 – 20%

6.13. In assessing the seriousness level, the Authority takes into account various

factors which reflect the impact and nature of the breach, and whether it was

committed deliberately or recklessly. DEPP 6.5AG(11) lists factors likely to be

considered ‘level 4 or 5 factors’. Of these, the Authority considers the following

factors to be relevant:

(a)
Whether the breach revealed serious or systemic weaknesses in the

firm’s procedures or in the management systems or internal

controls relating to all or part of the firm’s business (DEPP

6.5A.2G(11)(b)). The nature of the breach is relevant to this factor

(DEPP 6.5A. 2G(7)(a),(b),(c),(d)). The nature of the breaches is

particularly serious given the significant number of breaches in this

case, some of which continued for a number of years. The most

serious breaches (in 2012) involved failings throughout the Firm,

from traders on the SCP through SCP management, CIO London

management and CIO Senior Management to the Firm’s Senior

Management.
These
breaches
therefore
revealed
serious

weaknesses in the Firm’s procedures, management systems and

internal controls relating to part of the Firm’s business. During

2012, the Firm’s Senior Management and CIO Senior Management

became aware of serious warning signs indicating operational

failures and control weaknesses.

(b)
The Authority has given particular regard to whether the breach

had an adverse effect on markets and how serious that effect was

in relation to this factor (DEPP 6.5AG(6)(f)). Market confidence was

put at risk, given the announcements of losses to the market and

size of the losses announced.

(c)
Whether the breach caused a significant loss or risk of loss to other

market users (DEPP 6.5AG(11)(a) and DEPP 6.5A.2G(6)(a)-(b)).

The trading on the SCP at February month-end risked causing a loss

to other market participants.

(d)
Whether
the
breach
was
committed
deliberately
(DEPP

6.5A.2G(11)(f)).
The
mismarking
(Principle
2)
and
market

misconduct (Principle 5) were deliberate breaches. One of the

purposes of part of the February month-end trading was to “limit

the damage” to the SCP. This could have been achieved if the

market price of the index moved closer to the SCP’s mark. The SCP

was mismarked in order to conceal mounting losses, at the

instruction of SCP management. The valuation control process was

also subverted by the traders on the SCP with the intention of

concealing losses at month-end.

6.14. Taking all of these factors into account, the Authority considers the seriousness of

the Firm’s Principle 3 breach between 6 March 2010 and 31 December 2011 to be

level 4 and so the Step 2 figure for that period is 15% of £357,088,000. The

figure at Step 2 in respect of this breach is therefore £53,563,000. The Authority

considers the seriousness of the Firm’s breaches of Principles 2, 3 and 5 in 2012

to be level 5 and so the Step 2 figure for that period is 20% of £124,950,000. The

figure at Step 2 in respect of the 2012 breaches is therefore £24,990,000.

6.15. The overall figure at Step 2 is therefore £78,553,000.

Step 3: mitigating and aggravating factors

6.16. At Step 3 the Authority may increase or decrease the amount of the financial

penalty arrived at after Step 2 to take into account factors which aggravate or

mitigate the breach (DEPP 6.5A.3G).

6.17. The Authority considers that the following are the relevant aggravating and

mitigating factors:

Aggravating factors

(a)
The previous disciplinary record and general compliance history of

the firm (DEPP 6.5A.3G(2)(i)). Different areas of the Firm’s

business have been the subject of Final Notices published by the

Authority. In May 2010, JPMorgan Securities Ltd was fined £33.32

million for breaches of the Client Money Rules. In May 2013,

JPMorgan International Bank Limited was fined £3.07 million in

relation to its provision of retail investment advice and portfolio

investment services.

(b)
Whether the Authority’s guidance or other published materials had

already raised relevant concerns, and the nature and accessibility of

such materials (DEPP 6.5A.3G(2)(k)). As noted above in relation to

the earlier period, the Authority published a number of relevant

mismarking cases, a Dear CEO letter was sent to the Firm in 2008

and there were other relevant Authority publications.

Mitigating factors

(c)
The Firm has committed a significant amount of resources to

implement relevant improvements, undertaken remedial steps and

taken disciplinary action against employees involved in the events

leading to the regulatory breaches, including pursuing the

maximum claw back of compensation.

(d)
The level of co-operation provided by the Firm during the course of

the Authority’s investigation.

6.18. Having taken these factors into account, the Authority considers that the Step 2

figure should be increased by 15%.

6.19. Step 3 is therefore £90,336,000.

Step 4: adjustment for deterrence

6.20. If the Authority considers the figure arrived at after Step 3 is insufficient to deter

the firm who committed the breach, or others, from committing further or similar

breaches, then the Authority may increase the penalty (DEPP 6.5D.4G).

6.21. The Authority considers that the Step 3 figure of £90,336,000 represents a

sufficient deterrent to the Firm and others, and so has not increased the penalty

at Step 4. In reaching this conclusion, the Authority has taken consideration of

the Firm’s concurrent settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange

Commission.

6.22. Step 4 is therefore £90,336,000.

Step 5: settlement discount

6.23. If the Authority and the firm on whom a penalty is to be imposed agree the

amount of the financial penalty and other terms, DEPP 6.7 provides that the

amount of the financial penalty which might otherwise have been payable will be

reduced to reflect the stage at which the Authority and the firm reached

agreement (DEPP 6.5A5G). The settlement discount does not apply to the

disgorgement of any benefit calculated at Step 1.

6.24. The Authority and the Firm reached agreement at Stage 1 and so a 30% discount

applies to the Step 4 figure.

6.25. Step 5 is therefore £63,235,000.

6.26. The Authority has also applied the five-step framework that applies in respect of

financial penalties imposed on firms to the Firm’s breach of Principle 11.

Step 1: disgorgement

6.27. The Authority has not identified any financial benefit that the Firm derived directly

from the breach.

6.28. Step 1 is therefore £0.

Step 2: seriousness of the breach

6.29. The Authority considers that the revenue generated by the SCP is not an

appropriate indicator of the harm or potential harm caused by its breach.

6.30. The Authority has determined the Step 2 amount by taking into account those

factors relevant to an assessment of the level of seriousness of the breach.

6.31. As noted above, DEPP 6.5AG(11) lists factors likely to be considered ‘level 4 or 5

factors’. Of these, the Authority considers it relevant that the breach was

committed deliberately or recklessly (DEPP 6.5AG(11)(f)). In particular:

(a)
A responsible individual appreciated there was a risk that their

actions or inaction could result in a breach and failed adequately to

mitigate that risk (DEPP 6.5A.2G(9)(a)).

(i)
The Authority had clearly laid out matters relating to CIO

(including the SCP) in which it had a particular interest in a

letter dated 9 November 2010. The letter had been sent in

the context of a more detailed supervisory relationship with

the Firm. The Firm should have known that its failure to

disclose numerous serious and significant events and

problems regarding the SCP from January 2012 to 2 July

2012 would be in breach of Principle 11.

(ii)
Subsequently,
on
23
May
2012
the
Firm’s
Senior

Management were explicitly warned that the Authority’s

“appetite for further surprises was close to zero” in relation

to the SCP. Nevertheless, the Firm continued to fail to

mitigate the risk of a Principle 11 breach adequately in that

the Firm failed to disclose promptly evidence of potentially

serious misconduct within the Firm.

(b)
On 10 April 2012 the breach was deliberate, in that a responsible

individual,
intended
or
foresaw
that
the
likely
or
actual

consequences of their actions would result in a breach (DEPP

6.32. The Authority also considers that the following factors are relevant:

(a)
Whether the breach had an adverse effect on markets and, if so,

how serious that effect was. This may include having regard to

whether the orderliness of, or confidence in, the markets in

question has been damaged or put at risk (DEPP 6.5A.2G(6)(f)).

Failure to be open with the Authority and to disclose properly

matters of which the Authority would expect notice undermines the

Authority's ability to effectively supervise the markets and to meet

its objectives.

(b)
The nature of the rules, requirements or provisions breached (DEPP

6.5A.2G(7)(a)). The regulatory regime necessarily relies on firms

being open and co-operative. Principle 11 is therefore fundamental

to the effective functioning of the regulatory system.

(c)
The frequency of the breach (DEPP 6.5A.2G(7)(b)). The Firm failed

to be open and cooperative with the Authority through its repeated

actions over a six month period.

(d)
Whether the firm’s senior management were aware of the breach

(DEPP 6.5A.2G(7)(d)). CIO London management were aware of the

events and problems with the SCP, aware of the messages being

passed to the Authority, and were directly involved in deliberately

misleading the Authority on 10 April 2012.

6.33. Taking all of these factors into account, the Authority considers the seriousness of

the Firm’s Principle 11 breach to be level 4.

6.34. The figure at Step 2 is therefore £75,000,000.

Step 3: mitigating and aggravating factors

6.35. The Authority considers that the following factors aggravate the breach:

(a)
The previous disciplinary record and general compliance history of

the firm (DEPP 6.5A.3G(2)(i)) (see above).

(b)
Whether FSA guidance or other published materials had already

raised relevant concerns, and the nature and accessibility of such

materials (DEPP 6.5A.3G(2)(k)). The Authority has published Final

Notices in relation to Principle 11 breaches by other firms making

very clear that complete openness and full disclosure are crucial to

the regulatory regime. Despite these published materials the Firm

did not comply with its Principle 11 obligations.

6.36. Having taken into account these aggravating factors, the Authority considers that

the Step 2 figure should be increased by 15%.

6.37. Step 3 is therefore £86,250,000.

Step 4: adjustment for deterrence

6.38. The Authority considers that the Step 3 figure of £86,250,000 represents a

sufficient deterrent to the Firm and others, and so has not increased the penalty

at Step 4.

6.39. Step 4 is therefore £86,250,000.

Step 5: settlement discount

6.40. The Authority and the Firm reached agreement at Stage 1 and so a 30% discount

applies to the Step 4 figure.

6.41. Step 5 is therefore £60,375,000.

6.42. In total therefore the Authority proposes to impose on the Firm a financial penalty

of £137,610,000 comprising:

(a)
a penalty of £14,000,000 relating to the Firm’s breach of Principle 3

prior to 6 March 2010;

(b)
a penalty of £63,235,000 relating to the Firm’s breaches of

Principles 2, 3 and 5 on or after 6 March 2010; and

(c)
a penalty of £60,375,000 relating to the Firm’s breach of Principle
11.

7.
PROCEDURAL MATTERS

Decision maker

7.1.
The decision which gave rise to the obligation to give this Notice was made by the

Settlement Decision Makers.

7.2.
This Final Notice is given under, and in accordance with, section 390 of the Act.

Manner of and time for Payment

7.3.
The financial penalty must be paid in full by the Firm to the Authority by no later

than 1 October 2013, 14 days from the date of the Final Notice.

If the financial penalty is not paid

7.4.
If all or any of the financial penalty is outstanding on 2 October 2013, the

Authority may recover the outstanding amount as a debt owed by the Firm and

due to the Authority.

7.5.
Sections 391(4), 391(6) and 391(7) of the Act apply to the publication of

information about the matter to which this notice relates. Under those provisions,

the Authority must publish such information about the matter to which this notice

relates as the Authority considers appropriate. The information may be published

in such manner as the Authority considers appropriate. However, the Authority

may not publish information if such publication would, in the opinion of the

Authority, be unfair to you or prejudicial to the interests of consumers or

detrimental to the stability of the UK financial system.

7.6.
The Authority intends to publish such information about the matter to which this

Final Notice relates as it considers appropriate.

Authority contacts

7.7.
For more information concerning this matter generally, contact Helena Varney,

Joanna Howard or Eleanor Searley at the Authority (on 020 7066 1000).

Financial Conduct Authority, Enforcement and Financial Crime Division

ANNEX A

RELEVANT STATUTORY PROVISIONS, REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AND FCA
GUIDANCE

1. STATUTORY PROVISIONS

1.1.
The Authority’s strategic objective, set out in section 1B(2) of the Act, is

ensuring that the relevant markets function well.

1.2.
The relevant markets include the financial markets and the markets for regulated

financial services (section 1F of the Act).

1.3.
The Authority’s operational objectives are set out in section 1B(3) of the Act, and

include the integrity objective.

1.4.
The integrity objective is protecting and enhancing the integrity of the UK

financial system, as set out at section 1D of the Act. The integrity of the UK

financial system includes:

(a) its soundness, stability and resilience,

(b) its not being used for a purpose connected with financial crime,

(c) its not being affected by behaviour that amounts to market abuse,

(d) the orderly operation of the financial markets, and

(e) the transparency of the price formation process in those markets

1.5.
Section 206 of the Act provides that if the Authority:

“considers that an authorised person has contravened a relevant

requirement imposed on the person, it may impose on him a penalty, in

respect of the contravention, of such amount as it considers appropriate”.

1.6.
The Firm is an authorised person for the purposes of section 206 of the Act.

2. REGULATORY PROVISIONS

2.1.
In exercising its power to issue a financial penalty, the Authority must have

regard to the relevant provisions in the Handbook of rules and guidance (the

“Handbook”).

2.2.
In deciding on the action proposed, the Authority has also had regard to

guidance published in the Authority Handbook and set out in the Regulatory

Guides, in particular the Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual (“DEPP”).

3. PRINCIPLES FOR BUSINESSES (PRIN)

3.1.
The Principles are a general statement of the fundamental obligations of firms

under the regulatory system and are set out in the Handbook. They derive their

authority from the rule-making powers as set out in the Act and reflect the

Authority’s regulatory objectives. The relevant Principles are as follows:

3.2.
Principle 2 provides: “A firm must conduct its business with due skill, care and

diligence”.

3.3.
Principle 3 provides: “A firm must take reasonable care to organise and control

its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems”.

3.4.
Principle 5 provides: “A firm must observe proper standards of market conduct”.

3.5.
Principle 11 provides: “A firm must deal with its regulators in an open and

cooperative way, and must disclose to the appropriate regulator appropriately

anything relating to the firm of which that regulator would reasonably expect

notice”.

4. DECISION, PROCEDURE AND PENALTIES MANUAL (DEPP)

4.1.
Guidance on the imposition and amount of penalties is set out in Chapter 6 of

DEPP. Changes to DEPP were introduced on 6 March 2010. Given that the

misconduct occurred both before and after that date, the Authority has had

regard to the provisions of DEPP in force before and after that date.

4.2.
The Authority has also had regard to the provisions of the Enforcement manual

(ENF) in force prior to 28 August 2007, in relation to misconduct which occurred

prior to that date.