Goldman Sachs Group will pay a $120 million penalty to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to settle charges of false reporting and attempted manipulation of the U.S. Dollar International Swaps and Derivatives Association Fix, a global benchmark for interest-rate products.
Several Goldman Sachs traders tried to manipulate and made false reports on the USD ISDAFIX from January 2007 through March 2012, the CFTC in a news release Wednesday.
Goldman Sachs was accused of trying to move the benchmark rate to benefit its own positions by skewing its submissions used to create the “print,” or reference rate, that is captured each day at 11 a.m. ET, according to the CFTC. Goldman traders also traded at 11 a.m. ET to influence the published rate to its benefit, the CFTC said.
Goldman Sachs did not admit or deny wrongdoing as part of the settlement. “We are pleased to have resolved these matters and have already taken steps to enhance our policies and procedures,” said a statement from Michael DuVally, Goldman Sachs spokesman.
The penalty is the third by the CFTC against a bank for manipulating the USD ISDAFIX; in May, Citibank was fined $250 million and Barclays, $115 million.
Overall, the agency has assessed a total of more than $5.2 billion in penalties for manipulation of global benchmark rates, of which $3.3 billion was related to misconduct relating to ISDAFIX, London Interbank Offered Rate and other interest-rate benchmarks, and the remainder was for misconduct relating to foreign-exchange benchmarks, the CFTC said in the release.
