Goldman Sachs hit with £5.2m fine for short selling
James Booth, 28 November 2018
South Korea’s financial regulator has hit Goldman Sachs with a 7.5bn won (£5.2m) fine for breaking rules on short-selling.
The fine is for short-selling without securing underlying assets, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said in a statement.
It said Goldman Sachs Group’s subsidiary Goldman Sachs International had conducted short sales worth 40.1bn won in May. Naked short selling, which occurs when an investor sells stock that has not yet been borrowed, is illegal in South Korea.
Goldman Sachs has been under pressure recently for its involvement in the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund is suing the US investment bank in New York for its role in the scandal while Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government has said it wants the fees back it paid Goldman.
The bank also faces a sizeable settlement with the US Department of Justice. Goldman could pay a fine of up to $1.2bn (£940m) plus return $600m in fees and revenue the bank made arranging three 1MDB bonds, according to a Morgan Stanley banks analyst.
