Personal Loans

London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British’s Financial Services Authority fined Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) $30 million (20 million pounds) for failuring to inform the City regulator that one of the bank’s officers under investigation for fraud in the U.S. was transferred to the U.K.

The FSA identified Goldman official as Fabrice Tourre, who was facing a Securities and Exchange Commission probe for fraud.

While the SEC investigation was ongoing, Goldman reassigned Tourre to its London office from its New York unit.

The SEC had charged Goldman with failure to disclose that a hedge fund betting against a mortgage-backed security called Abacus picked some of the mortgage loans included in the portfolio. The move cost investors up to $1 billion.

Because of the charges, a U.S. Senate Committee questioned seven Goldman directors, including Tourre. Goldman eventually settled the case and paid SEC a penalty of $550 million (355.5 million pounds) without admitting wrongdoing.

Reports said Goldman is expected to admit it made a mistake in not informing the FSA of Tourre’s transfer, but the bank has so far officially decline to comment on the matter.

Goldman, like many American banks hit by the global financial crisis, is trying to rebuild its image and rebuild public trust.

Goldman has also been accused by Greece of profiteering from the country’s sovereign debt crisis by short selling the nation’s bonds.

The FSA had been slapping large western banks with hefty penalties. In 2009, the FSA penalized another U.S. bank, JPMorgan, a record $49.5 million (33 million pounds) for the bank’s failure to separate client money from its own. Also last year, the regulator penalized Barclays, Credit Suisse and Commerzbank $3.7 million (2.45 million pounds) each for failure to maintain proper trading records.

In August, FSA fined the London branch of French bank Societe Generale $2.4 million (1.57 million pounds) for lack of accurate transaction records.

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