The European Commission fined Citigroup, Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland a combined 1.07 billion euro’s ($1.2 billion), for their roles in foreign exchange trading cartels. Individual traders at the five banks involved formed two cartels, said the European Commision and these traders manipulate the spot foreign exchange market for 11 currencies, including the dollar, the euro and the pound.
Penalty
Over the participation of majors Banks in the manipulation of the foreign currency market, a penalty followed of billions of dollars in fines that various government regulators levied2014 and 2015 . The commission’s action stemmed from what it deemed to be anti-competitive practices by two cartels that operated from 2007 to 2013. Previous related investigations by the Justice Department, and by regulators in the United States, Britain and Switzerland, examined criminal misconduct and civil violations and had increased scrutiny of currency trading desks.
Traders
Individual traders from each of the five banks traded large amounts of currencies including the euro, the pound, the yen and the United States dollar for major companies, pension funds and asset managers. Although the traders were direct competitors, the commission’s investigation found that they had exchanged trading plans, shared sensitive information — including details of their customers’ orders and evidence of their identities — and even coordinated strategies during chats on Bloomberg terminals.
