The FCA has fined Deutsche Bank’s London branch £4.7m ($7.8m) for failing to properly report equity swap contracts for difference (CDFs).

Deutsche Bank misreported 29,411,494 equity swap CFD transactions by failing to indicate if they were buy or sell. The failure, which affected all Deutsche’s equity swap CFD transaction reports in this period, breaches FCA rules on transaction reporting.

''Effective market surveillance is critical to maintain the integrity of our markets and depends on accurate and timely reporting of transactions,” said Tracey McDermott, the FCA’s director of enforcement and financial crime.

“Deutsche is a major market participant responsible for reporting millions of transactions every year. There is simply no excuse for Deutsche Bank's failure to get this right. Other firms should be in no doubt about our continued focus on this issue."

The FCA said they are particularly concerned, having provided extensive guidance to firms on how to submit and check these reports and having already taken action against several other firms. They had also previously issued Deutsche Bank with a private warning in relation to other similar transaction reporting failures.

The size of the fine reflects the very significant number of misreported transactions, according to the regulator. Deutsche Bank agreed to settle at an early stage of the investigation, and received a 30% reduction of their fine.