SG Americas to Pay $3.1 Million to Settle Charges of Providing Deficient Blue Sheet Data

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against broker-dealer SG Americas Securities LLC for failing to provide complete and accurate securities trading information known as "blue sheet data."  SG Americas agreed to pay a $1.55 million civil penalty to resolve the SEC's charges and separately agreed to pay $1.55 million to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to resolve parallel charges.

According to the SEC's order, for more than five years, SG Americas made numerous deficient blue sheet submissions containing missing or inaccurate data, largely due to undetected coding errors. The order finds that SG Americas submitted missing or incorrect data for approximately 27.6 million transactions and had inadequate processes designed to validate the accuracy of its submissions. Broker-dealers are required to provide trade data, which the SEC uses to carry out its enforcement and regulatory obligations, including investigations of insider trading and other fraudulent activity.

"Broker-dealers must ensure that the trade data they provide to the SEC is complete and accurate," said Kelly L. Gibson, Director of the SEC’s Philadelphia Regional Office. "Failure to do so hinders our ability to carry out our mission to protect investors."

The SEC's order finds that SG Americas willfully violated the broker-dealer books and records and reporting provisions of the federal securities laws. The firm admitted the findings in the SEC's cease and desist order and agreed to be censured and to pay a $1.55 million penalty. The SEC's order also finds that SG Americas engaged in remedial efforts to address the cause of its deficient submissions, including retaining an outside consultant and adopting new policies and procedures for processing blue sheet requests.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Han Nguyen, Rachael Clarke, and Scott A. Thompson of the Market Abuse Unit. The investigation was supervised by Ms. Gibson and Joseph G. Sansone, Chief of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit. The SEC appreciates the assistance of FINRA.