NatWest unit pleads guilty to Treasury market manipulation

(Reuters) — A unit of NatWest Group on Tuesday agreed to pay about $35 million and pleaded guilty to wire and securities fraud in relation to a long-running scheme by some of its traders to manipulate U.S. Treasury debt markets.

The lender’s investment bank NatWest Markets admitted its traders engaged in schemes to manipulate U.S. Treasury markets over a decade up to 2018. The company agreed to serve three years of probation in addition to the fine and restitution, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

NatWest traders in Connecticut, London and Singapore engaged in schemes in which they manipulated Treasury market prices through a practice known as “spoofing,” or placing orders with the intent to cancel them before execution, according to Tuesday’s court filings.

The company regrets the “past behavior of a small number of former employees,” Robert Begbie, NatWest Market’s CEO, said in a statement. “The behavior of these individuals was unacceptable and has no place in the bank we are today.”

The penalty and other payments will cover both spoofing-related charges as well as a breach of a prior agreement with the Justice Department, NatWest said.

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