Morgan Stanley unit fined over trader's $1.3 billion bet

NEW YORK: Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, the brokerage venture of Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc, was fined $450,000 after a trader amassed a $1.3 billion bet in 2009, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records show.

The brokerage didn't have enough controls in place to detect that Jared Weinryt, 31, had breached his $116 million trading limit as he made overnight bets on futures, Finra said this month. The trades led to losses for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney of about $14.9 million, according to Finra.

Regulators are pressing Wall Street to heighten risk controls after multibillion-dollar trading losses at UBS AG and JPMorgan Chase, the collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd. after a $6.3 billion bet on European debt, and Knight Capital Group's $270 million loss caused by faulty software.