Barclays fined £2.45m by watchdog

The fine represented the severity of the breaches, the FSA said

Barclays has been fined £2.45m ($4m) by the City watchdog for failures in the way it reported transactions carried out by its traders.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the bank did not have adequate systems and controls in place to meet regulatory requirements.

There were also "a substantial number of errors" in the data submitted.

The FSA came across the errors while probing suspected insider trading by a third party, unconnected to the bank.

'Extensive' investment

The breaches took place throughout 2007 and 2008, "despite repeated reminders to firms of their obligations to provide accurate data", according to the watchdog.

Barclays escaped an even bigger fine of £3.5m after the FSA offered a 30% discount following the banking giant's co-operation.

Director of markets for the FSA, Alexander Justham, said the fine reflected "the serious nature of Barclays' breaches and is a warning to other firms that the FSA will not tolerate inadequate systems and controls".

A Barclays spokesman said that it had fully co-operated during the investigation.

Reporting errors were caused by inaccuracies in its data systems, it said, which had since seen "extensive" investment.

"No counterparties, clients, or financial reports were affected in any way," it added.