Goldman Sachs has been fined £17.5m ($30m) for regulatory control failings that led the giant investment bank to neglect to tell the UK financial regulator that it was under investigation by US authorities.
The Financial Services Authority said on Thursday that Goldman's US arm failed to share critical information about a US investigation of subprime mortgage products with the bank's compliance department in London for more than 18 months.
That omission meant Goldman failed to notify the FSA that it and trader Fabrice Tourre had been warned in September 2009 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that they were facing likely civil fraud charges. At the time, Mr Tourre was working in London in a function that required FSA approval.
The SEC filed charges in April 2010 and settled with Goldman for $550m in July. Mr Tourre is still fighting allegations that he misled investors in a complex mortgage-backed security known as Abacus.
The FSA said that Goldman officials could have considered notifying them about the probe as early as February 2009 and "at the latest" when the bank received the so-called Wells notice warning of potential charges.
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