JPMorgan Chase to pay $920 million to resolve US investigations into trading practices

JPMorgan Chase is set to pay a record $920 million to resolve probes from three U.S. government agencies over its role in the alleged manipulation of global markets for metals and Treasurys.

The figure was released Tuesday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a statement from commissioner Dan Berkovitz. Last week, news reports indicated that the New York-based bank was nearing a settlement of almost $1 billion.

When it is formally announced, the penalty will be a record for spoofing, which is when sophisticated traders flood markets with orders that they have no intention of actually executing. The practice was banned after the 2008 financial crisis and regulators have made it a priority to stamp out.

Berkovitz said in the statement that he opposed the ruling from his agency that JPMorgan’s actions “should not result in any disqualifications under the ‘bad actor’ provisions of the securities laws.” It appears he is referring to the fact that the settlement isn’t expected to result in business restrictions on other areas of the firm, which was reported lat week. 

“For eight years, a group of traders at JPMorgan systematically `spoofed’ precious metals and Treasury futures markets by entering hundreds of thousands of orders with the intent to cancel them before execution,” Berkovitz said. “The Commission’s Order finds that JPMorgan manipulated these markets and failed to diligently supervise its traders.”

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.