Q1 fines top $7bn globally thanks to Ponzi penalty

Financial services fines in the first quarter of 2025 topped $7 billion globally thanks to a $5.9 billion civil penalty imposed on Ponzi scheme operator Allen Stanford, Corlytics enforcement data shows. Without that massive fine, the first quarter total is $955 million, only slightly down from 2024ʼs first-quarter total of just over $1 billion.

After fraud, the top five breaches by regulatory category were client communications and disclosures; anti-competitive behaviour; anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); product governance; and regulatory reporting/recordkeeping.

By region

US and Canadian regulators fined firms a total $6.6 billion, or about $750 million excluding the $5.9 billion fine on Stanford. He was convicted in 2012 for defrauding 18,000 investors and is currently serving a 110-year prison sentence. The case dates back to 2009.

UK and European Union regulators fined 14 firms for about $205 million, while Asia-Pacific regulators have handed out almost $49 million in fines to seven firms.

Robinhood lifetime fines exceed $300 million

Trading app Robinhood was founded in 2013 and already it has been fined 17 times in the US for a total $302 million, according to Violation Tracker data. Two of those fines, totalling $71 million, came in the first quarter of 2025.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities a combined $45 million for more than 10 different securities law violations. Failures spanned suspicious activity reporting; identity theft protection; cyber security breaches; off-channel communications; retention of brokerage data; and failure to maintain customer communications.

In March, the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities $26 million for multiple compliance failures and ordered the former to pay $3.75 million in restitution to customers. FINRA found the firms failed to implement effective AML systems and controls.

Robinhood Securities failed on numerous aspects of reporting obligations and failed to supervise its clearing technology system, while Robinhood Financial failed to supervise and retain social media communications posted by paid influencers. It also gave customers inaccurate or incomplete disclosures regarding its practice of “collaring” market orders by converting them to limit orders.

UK competition regulator strikes

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) fined Citi, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada more than £100 million ($132 million) in total for specific instances between 2009 and 2013, in which traders shared competitively sensitive information about aspects of the pricing of UK bonds (gilts).

On a single day in January, the Dutch National Bank (DNB), the Netherlandsʼ central bank, slapped two separate fines totalling 20 million euros on de Volksbank NV. The first, for 15 million euros, was made at the behest of the European Central Bank (ECB) for a “serious and protracted” breach of systems and controls, governance and oversight between July 5, 2018 and October 11, 2023.

The second fine, for 5 million euros, was for shortcomings in the bankʼs anti-money laundering controls that occurred between July 1, 2020, and April 26, 2023. DNB found that not only was de Volksbank’s AML/CFT vetting of customers insufficient but the bank also did not, or was slow to, follow up on customer transaction alerts.

Another notable first-quarter fine was BaFin’s 23 million euro sanction on Deutsche Bank AG. The bulk of the fine (14.8 million euros) from the German regulator was in relation to the sale of currency derivatives in Spain. The case highlights the willingness of European regulators to cooperate with each other as the investigation into Deutsche was first initiated by Spain’s markets regulator, CNMV. In January, CNMV separately fined Deutsche 10 million euros over the same mis-selling of foreign exchange derivatives, which occurred between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2021.

The remainder of the BaFin fine relates to Deutsche subsidiary Postbank, for failures in recording calls related to its investment services operations, and in its account switching services.  

Australian regulator bans six

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had a busy first quarter of enforcement activity. It included six bans on individuals; charging two individuals with market abuse and insider dealing; announcing lawsuits and regulatory actions against three firms; and fining another two individuals.

ASIC also fined Allianz, AustralianSuper, Firstmac and Active Super for a combined US$39.3 million . Noteworthy among these was the AUD10.5 million ($6.7 million) imposed on Active Super for greenwashing. The Australian Federal Court determined that the superannuation fund continued to hold investments in sectors it claimed to have exited, such as gambling, coal mining and Russian entities, while marketing itself as an ethical investment fund.