U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Monday that three broker-dealers agreed to pay more than 6 million U.S. dollars due to violations in SEC data submission regulations.

SEC said that Citadel Securities LLC, Natixis Securities Americas LLC, and MUFG Securities Americas Inc. each submitted incomplete and inaccurate "blue sheet data" to SEC.

"We routinely use blue sheet data to detect wrongdoing and protect Main Street investors through our enforcement efforts," said Kelly L. Gibson, Associate Regional Director for Enforcement in the SEC's Philadelphia Regional Office.

SEC said that Citadel submitted incorrect data for nearly 80 million trades, while Natixis and MUFG submitted incorrect data for approximately 150,000 trades and 650,000 trades, respectively.

The firms admitted SEC's findings and agreed to be censured and to pay penalties, said SEC.

Citadel would pay 3.5 million U.S. dollars, while Natixis and MUFG would pay 1.25 million dollars and 1.4 million dollars respectively, according to SEC.

"Firms must be diligent and take seriously their obligations to provide accurate and complete data in response to our requests," said Gibson.