CFTC fines Morgan Stanley $200,000 over supervision charges

Commodities regulators ordered Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations that the brokerage failed to diligently supervise employees that handle customer accounts.

A customer of the firm, recently re-named Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, improperly traded futures contracts on behalf of a third-party client, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Monday.

The unidentified customer from 2006-2008 also transferred funds from that customer's proprietary futures trading account to a third-party client's bank account, a move that should have led the firm to question whether the account was being carried properly, the CFTC said.

Morgan Stanley neither admitted nor denied the findings, according to the CFTC order. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is partially owned by Citigroup.

A representative of the brokerage was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting By Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)