CAMBRIDGE, Mass., November 8, 2016—The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation today released data on the total public financial penalties imposed on financial institutions in the United States for Q3 2016. Public financial penalties include public class action settlements that arise from class action lawsuits brought by the government (e.g., state attorneys general) and regulatory penalties that follow enforcement actions by regulatory agencies including the SEC, CFTC, and others.
During the third quarter of 2016, public financial penalties amounted to $1.2 billion, bringing the total penalties observed through Q3 2016 to nearly $12.6 billion, or approximately 80% of the $15.9 billion in penalties observed through the first three quarters of 2015. The $1.2 billion in penalties this quarter included assessments against State Street ($382 million) and Wells Fargo ($188 million), but Goldman Sachs’ Q2 penalty ($5.1 billion) and Morgan Stanley’s Q1 penalty ($3.2 billion) remain the highest of the year, and the highest since 2014. The data show that financial institutions in the U.S. continue to face historically unprecedented public financial penalties.
The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) research organization dedicated to improving the regulation of U.S. capital markets. The Committee’s membership includes thirty-five leaders drawn from the finance, investment, business, law, accounting, and academic communities. The Committee is chaired jointly by R. Glenn Hubbard (Dean, Columbia Business School) and John L. Thornton (Chairman, The Brookings Institution) and directed by Prof. Hal S. Scott (Nomura Professor and Director of the Program on International Financial Systems, Harvard Law School).
The release is available here.
For Further Information:
Hal S. Scott, Director
Committee on Capital Markets Regulation
(617) 495-4590