8.00–17.00
The investigation on spot foreign exchange “Forex” market led by Brussels has been closed. On December 2021 the European Commission decided to impose a total fine of 261 million euros on several banks: Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC. In fact, Credit Suisse also faces a financial penalty of 83 million euros.
In European Commission’s statement it is said that this investigation revealed that brokers in charge of spot foreign exchange transactions on certain currencies, acting on behalf of sanctioned banks, were coordinating their trading strategies.
As Credit Suisse was not willing to cooperate in the settlement or leniency procedures, it did not receive any benefits of fine reductions. Although the bank was granted with a 4% reduction of the fine, since the bank was not held accountable for all of the case aspects. However, because of cooperation with the investigation UBS was granted full immunity. By revealing the existence of the cartels UBS avoided 94 million euros fine.
To sum up European Commission’s decision on the case: Credit Suisse will have to pay 83.29 million euro fine; UBS’s fine is reduced to zero; Barclays – 54.35 million euros, RBS – 32.42 million euros, HSBC – 174.28 million euros.
Additionally, the investigation showed that in the period between May 2011 and July 2012 the anti-competitive practices identified involved trading in the eleven most traded currencies in the world, including the euro, franc, US dollar, British pound and Japanese yen.
As a reminder, in May 2021, Brussels had imposed a total of 371 million euros in fines on three investment banks (UBS, the Japanese Nomura and the Italian UniCredit) for an agreement on transactions in government bonds European between 2007 and 2011 revealed by NatWest. Again, the fraud involved a group of traders in contact with each other on discussion forums.
