E-Trade, TradeStation, CIBC fined $1.6M total

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined TradeStation Group Inc., E-Trade Financial Corp. and CIBC a total of $1.6 million for failing to keep track of customers' orders, the regulatory body said Thursday.

FINRA requires brokers to track customers' orders so regulators can better monitor trading.

The regulatory body fined E-Trade $500,000 for failing to report new orders and file certain route reports. TradeStation was fined $750,000 for failing to report 23.5 million order "events," and CIBC was fined $350,000 for failing to report 28 million orders generated by affiliates.

FINRA said the fine was smaller because the firms reported the failures themselves and took immediate steps to correct the problems.

"Firms must be vigilant in monitoring the accuracy and completeness of the data they provide to regulators and each firm must ensure that it reports all required order information, no matter which desk receives or handles the order," said Tom Gira, executive vice president of FINRA's market regulation department.