NEW YORK (Reuters) – Online trading firm Robinhood Markets has agreed to pay $45 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges over record keeping, trade reporting and other rule violations, the regulator said on Monday. Â Â Regulators found Robinhood Securities LLC and Robinhood Financial LLC violated numerous requirements such as accurately reporting trading activity; filing timely reports of suspicious activity; maintaining records and complying with short sale rules, said SEC acting director Sanjay Wadhwa in a statement.
Robinhood also became among the latest broker-dealers to admit to breaking rules over retaining work-related communications with employees’ use of messaging apps and other “off-channel” communication platforms.
The firm admitted to those failures as well as deficient trading data, known as blue sheets. Robinhood also failed to adequately address cybersecurity risks, regulators found. Â Â Robinhood General Counsel Lucas Moskowitz said the firm is pleased to have resolved the matters.
“We are well-positioned to continue leading the industry in developing the innovative products and services our customers want and need,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the SEC under a new administration.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Chris Prentice; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)
