The Financial Services Authority has fined Plus500UK Ltd over £205,000 (about $330,000) and James Sharp and Company £49,000 for failing to provide accurate and timely transaction reports to the FSA in respect of all the reportable transactions they carried out.

Between 29 June 2010 and 5 November 2011 Plus500, an online contracts for difference trading facility provider, conducted 1,332,000 reportable transactions. But the firm failed to report any of these accurately and failed to report 189,000 of them at all. 

Between 5 November 2007 and 8 February 2011 James Sharp, an independent stockbroking firm, failed to report any of the approximately 71,000 reportable transactions that it undertook.

Plus500 is the first regulated firm to be fined in respect of transaction reporting failures under the new FSA penalties policy, established to provide a consistent and more transparent framework for the calculation of financial penalties. The regime came into force on 6 March 2010 and applies to any breaches which occur on or after that date. As a result the penalty imposed on Plus500, which was based on the number of affected transactions, was larger than it would have been under the previous regime.

“Accurate transaction reports are a key tool in our efforts to tackle market abuse. We will take action where necessary to ensure firms – regardless of size – comply with their reporting obligations. As well as a financial penalty, firms can also expect to incur the cost of resubmitting historically inaccurate reports,” FSA director of markets David Lawton said in a statement.