The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an order while filing charges and reaching a settlement against Goldman Sachs。

The order found that Goldman violated the cease-and-desist clause of a previous order and violated record-keeping regulations for failing to properly record and retain certain audio files.。

The order requires Goldman to pay a $5.5 million civil penalty and stop further violations of record-keeping provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.。

In November 2019, the CFTC issued an order finding that Goldman failed to record telephone lines at trading and sales counters for 20 calendar days in January and February 2014 because its recording hardware malfunctioned after a software patch.。The CFTC ordered Goldman to pay a $1 million civil penalty and stop further violations of CFTC record-keeping rules.。

The order, issued today, found more record-keeping failures at Goldman following the November 2019 order, in violation of the stop clause of a previous order.。Specifically, Goldman uses vendor services to record calls on mobile devices.。Beginning in March 2020, the increased use of the vendor's recording services during the outbreak led to an increase in hardware failures at the vendor.。

As a result, Goldman failed to fully record and retain thousands of mobile device calls.。Goldman found the problem while investigating reports of poor call quality from employees who use the recording service。Interim fixes were implemented in May 2020 and the vendor's hardware was replaced with a replacement system in September 2020。

In addition, starting in March 2020, Goldman Sachs began using another vendor's software, which aims to replicate the experience of a hardwired trading tower (a dedicated phone setup used to facilitate transactions) through a computer。In late May 2020, Goldman Sachs discovered a software problem that caused the system to sometimes fail to record audio correctly.。

As a result, Goldman failed to fully document and retain thousands of phone calls.。A permanent fix in the form of a software update was completed in June 2022 after a temporary fix was implemented。

The order endorses Goldman's cooperation with the CFTC investigation and acknowledges Goldman's statements regarding remedies in the matter.。