What did Virtu Financial do wrong?

Virtu Financial is accused of improperly allowing almost all employees at its broker-dealer unit access to confidential customer information and trade details.

How much did Virtu pay to settle with the SEC?

Virtu Financial will pay a $2.5 million fine to settle accusations made by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

What is Virtu Americas?

Virtu Americas is the broker-dealer unit of Virtu Financial that handled approximately 25% of U.S. retail investor market orders during the relevant period.

Home / Business and Economy / Virtu Pays $2.5M for Leaking Customer Trade Data

Virtu Pays $2.5M for Leaking Customer Trade Data

4 Dec

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Summary

Virtu Financial settled with SEC for $2.5 million.
Almost all employees had improper access to confidential customer trade data.
The company allegedly used generic login credentials for access.

Virtu Pays $2.5M for Leaking Customer Trade Data

Virtu Financial has settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for $2.5 million. The market maker was accused of allowing unauthorized access to confidential customer data and trade information by nearly all employees at its broker-dealer unit, Virtu Americas. This unit is significant, handling approximately 25% of market orders from U.S. retail investors during the period in question.

The SEC alleged that Virtu falsely claimed to use information barriers to protect sensitive customer data. Instead, from January 2018 to April 2019, employees could allegedly access customer names and trade details using a widely shared generic username and password.

Virtu voluntarily disclosed the issue to the SEC in 2019, coinciding with a business migration to a back-office database. The settlement, approved by a U.S. District Judge in Manhattan, resolves these accusations without Virtu admitting or denying wrongdoing.