Santander U.S. Capital Markets has agreed to pay a $100,000 settlement

"Santander U.S. Capital Markets agreed to be censured in reaching settlement for failing to establish, maintain, and enforce a supervisory system and written procedures reasonably designed to achieve compliance with FINRA rules," as stated by the self-regulatory organization in a disciplinary action published Friday.

Regarding the specific issues, FINRA pointed out that "From April 2019 through December 2021, Santander U.S. did not have reasonably designed systems and procedures to monitor affiliate employees accessing MNPI." They also noted, "At least seven employees of the firm’s foreign affiliates had access to MNPI but were not monitored, and at least 45 affiliate employees who had access were not monitored until two to 18 days after being exposed to MNPI."

Furthermore, FINRA highlighted that "Santander U.S.’s system was not reasonably designed to review securities transactions in employee outside brokerage accounts that were maintained at a foreign broker-dealer." They pointed out that "the firm allowed employees to maintain outside accounts at foreign brokerage firms if they manually uploaded account statements," but "four employees failed to do so, preventing Santander U.S. from timely monitoring trading."

The company response came from a Santander U.S. spokesperson who stated, "We take this matter very seriously... We have taken necessary actions to address the findings and are pleased to have this matter resolved."

Lastly, it's important to note that "the firm agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying FINRA’s findings," as reported in the article.

By fLEXI tEAM