Banks fined £3.6bn for rigging foreign exchange markets

Six banks have been fined a combined $5.6bn (£3.6bn) by authorities in America and the UK for rigging foreign exchange markets.

Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, JPMorgan, UBS, Citigroup and Bank of America were handed the sum, the biggest combined bank settlement in history, on Wednesday afternoon.
The new sum now brings the total bill for the foreign exchange scandal, one of the most expensive in banking history, to almost $10bn. Barclays, RBS, JPMorgan and Citigroup are pleading guilty to criminal charges, while UBS has pleading guilty to Libor rigging, since the manipulation violated previous agreements.
Traders at the banks used electronic chatrooms, describing themselves as "The Cartel", to manipulate currency benchmarks, making large profits at the expense of customers.
Barclays and RBS are firing certain employees as part of their settlements, the banks said.
It comes six months after RBS, HSBC, JPMorgan, UBS, Citigroup and Bank of America were fined $4.3bn (£2.8bn) for currency rigging.
Barclays was fined £284.4m by the Financial Conduct Authority, the biggest fine in UK history, while the rest of the penalties came from US regulators.
The Federal Reserve fined the banks $1.8bn and the Department of Justice $2.5bn. Meanwhile, Barclays will pay $400m to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and $485m, to New York's Department of Financial Services.
Barclays paid $2.3bn, by far the biggest bill, since it did not settle with the FCA or CFTC last year, and is uniquely regulated by the DFS. The New York regulator said that traders had used language such as "if you aint cheating, you aint trying" when manipulating currency benchmarks .
"Put simply, Barclays employees helped rig the foreign exchange market," said Ben Lawsky, New York's superintendent of Financial Services. "They engaged in a brazen ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ scheme to rip off their clients."
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Forex rigging timeline: How the currency manipulation scandal unfolded

June 2013

Financial Conduct Authority begins preliminary investigation into potential manipulation of foreign exchange benchmarks

October 2013

FCA confirms a formal investigation into forex followed by Department of Justice. Banks announce they are co-operating

January 2014

Various banks fire and suspend traders amid internal probes

March 2014

Bank of England suspends Martin Mallett, its head of currency trading, amid an internal investigation into what the Bank knew

July 2014

UK's Serious Fraud Office opens investigation into forex

September 2014

FCA reaches its conclusions and begins negotiations with banks

November 2014

After banks set aside huge sums, they are fined $4.3bn by US, UK and Swiss authorities. Bank of England review concludes that officials did not know about rigging, but Bank fires Mr Mallett for unrelated matters

December 2014

Police make first arrest in SFO investigation, of former RBS trader in Essex

April 2015

Barclays makes new £800m provision, taking its total bill to £2bn as it awaits fines

May 2015

Banks receive more than $5bn in fines from US and UK authorities