The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) plans to automatically award successful whistleblowers 30 per cent of any enforcement penalties collected if a tipster is due to receive US$5 million or less, the agency said on Sept 11.
The derivatives regulator said the change would speed up payouts and reduce paperwork for the majority of whistleblower awards and align the agency’s whistleblower programme with its fellow Wall Street watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Awards are subject to the commission’s discretion, the CFTC said.
Established after the 2008 financial crisis, the CFTC’s whistleblower programme aims to motivate people to share original, timely tips to help the agency crack down on bad actors.
Qualified whistleblowers may be eligible for payouts ranging from 10 per cent to 30 per cent of collected penalties.
Analysing each award to determine the percentage takes time, the CFTC said when it proposed the automatic threshold in June.
Setting a set amount for smaller penalties – which make up more than 80 per cent of the CFTC’s whistleblower awards – will free up resources to devote to larger, more complex cases, the agency said in the final rule.
“The Whistleblower Programme plays an important role in supporting the Commission’s enforcement programme,” Whistleblower Office director Raagnee Beri said in a statement. “This final rule will protect and enhance the program’s effectiveness and further incentivise whistleblowers to report.” BLOOMBERG
