Achilles Macris was head of CIO International for JPMorgan Chase Bank, in London and had responsibility for the Synthetic Credit Portfolio. He was the main contact with the FCA’s predecessor the Financial Services Authority (FSA), but was found to have failed to inform the regulator about concerns with the Synthetic Credit Portfolio between 28 March 2012 and 29 April 2012.

The FCA says that on 28 March 2012 Macris attended a supervision meeting with the FSA at which the regulator was updated on both positive and negative developments relating to the Synthetic Credit Portfolio, including that it had made a loss of $200m, and that it had experienced rebalancing problems.

However, the FSA was told that the portfolio was now balanced and did not require additional trading, and Macris did not provide information about the full extent of the difficulties that the Synthetic Credit Portfolio was then facing or take steps to ensure that the regulator understood there were causes for concern.

Macris also failed to explain the position of the Synthetic Credit Portfolio had worsened and its losses had increased in a phone call on 10 April 2012, when he allowed the FSA to believe there had been no material changes since the supervision meeting and that there were not wider causes for concern with the Synthetic Credit Portfolio.

Mark Steward, FCA director of enforcement and market oversight 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.'

Under the settlement agreed in this case, Macris was offered a 30% discount on the penalty to be paid, which would otherwise have been £1,132,747.