Paul Walter, a trader for more than 20 years, was found to have manipulated the market in the case of six Dutch State Loans (DSL) in order to benefit from other traders adjusting their own bids.
He entered bids on electronic trading platform BrokerTec giving the impression he was a buyer of the loans when in fact he was selling.
As his bids were listed as the ‘best bids’ this caused other traders to raise their own offers, Walter then sold his DSL and cancelled his quote.
He also engaged in the practice when buying DSL to secure a better price.
He made a profit of €22,000 from the trades, however the Financial Conduct Authority did not find Walter knew his actions constituted market abuse.
The FCA did, however, consider Walter negligent for not realising that what he did constituted market abuse and imposed a fine of £60,090.
Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Market manipulation undermines market integrity and confidence.
“The FCA will be vigilant in detecting abusive practices and will take robust action to protect issuers and participants from all over the world from the harm caused by such abuse.”
