The boss of the 'London Whale' trader just got fined nearly £800,000

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Gregory "Slowbirdr" Smith/Flickr (CC)

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority has fined the boss of the so-called "London Whale" trader nearly £800,000 ($1.15 million) for failing to communicate properly with the regulator.

Former JP Morgan executive Achilles Macris — who managed the activities of Bruno Iksil, a trader dubbed “The London Whale” for his massive legal market bets — has been fined £792,000 ($1.14 billion) by the FCA for what it calls a failure "to be open and co-operative" with them over an investigation into massive losses in JP Morgan's derivatives business.

Iksil was at the centre of the $6.2 billion (£4.3 billion) JP Morgan legal trading loss of 2012, when massive derivatives bets went sour, and cost the bank more than $1 billion (£690 million) in penalties.

According to the FCA, Macris, who was formerly head of the chief investment office of the bank in London, failed to act responsibly with regards to the synthetic credit portfolio, the portfolio of trades at the heart of the scandal. In a statement released on Tuesday morning, FCA enforcement chief Mark Steward said:

"A failure to communicate openly with us can affect the well-running of markets and cause unnecessary harm to investors, especially in times of financial stress or crisis. Regulators need open communication with firms so that better decisions can be made sooner. Mr Macris should have explained the position more squarely especially when he knew the Synthetic Credit Portfolio’s losses had worsened."

Responding to his fine, Macris also released a statement, calling the FCA's decision against him a "major climb-down" He said: 

"Today’s outcome represents a major climb-down by the FCA, after four years that I have spent fighting to clear my name. The Final Notice issued to JP Morgan by the FCA in 2013 wrongly and unfairly accused me of deliberately misleading the FSA. That Notice was released to the public without the FCA ever having properly heard my side of the story. Today the FCA has finally accepted that this allegation against me was utterly wrong."

Macris has consistently maintained that he has been mistreated during the FCA's investigations into the "London Whale" case, and is currently bringing a separate case against the FCA for allegedly improperly identifying him during proceedings against JP Morgan in 2013.

Until today's findings, Macris was the only individual still under investigation for the scandal. Despite his involvement in the scandal, no action was ever brought against Bruno Iksil.

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