(Reuters) - Regulators fined five major banks $3.4 billion for failing to stop traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market, the first settlement in a year-long global investigation.
UBS (UBSN.VX), HSBC (HSBA.L) and Citigroup (C.N), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and JP Morgan (JPM.N) all face penalties resulting from the probe that has also put the largely unregulated $5 trillion-a-day market on a tighter leash. One regulator gave banks a 30 percent discount for settling early.
In the latest scandal to hit the financial services industry, dealers shared confidential information about client orders and coordinated trades to make money from a foreign exchange benchmark used by asset managers and corporate treasurers to value their holdings. Dozens of traders have been fired or suspended.
Dealers used code names to identify clients without naming them and created online chatrooms with pseudonyms such as "the players", รขโฌลthe 3 musketeersรขโฌย and รขโฌล1 team, 1 dreamรขโฌย in which to swap information. Those not involved were belittled.
UBS (UBSN.VX), HSBC (HSBA.L) and Citigroup (C.N), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and JP Morgan (JPM.N) all face penalties resulting from the probe that has also put the largely unregulated $5 trillion-a-day market on a tighter leash. One regulator gave banks a 30 percent discount for settling early.
In the latest scandal to hit the financial services industry, dealers shared confidential information about client orders and coordinated trades to make money from a foreign exchange benchmark used by asset managers and corporate treasurers to value their holdings. Dozens of traders have been fired or suspended.
Dealers used code names to identify clients without naming them and created online chatrooms with pseudonyms such as "the players", รขโฌลthe 3 musketeersรขโฌย and รขโฌล1 team, 1 dreamรขโฌย in which to swap information. Those not involved were belittled.