Six major banks were fined more than $4bn as regulators punished them for their role in a foreign exchange rate-rigging scandal that once again called into question the integrity of the global financial markets.
The tally of fines, agreed in separate settlements with UBS, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of America, is already close to the $6bn paid so far over the Libor rate-rigging probe. Other regulators are still investigating. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority decided to mete out record fines of ￡1.1bn to five banks, but cleared four big institutions – although they still face probes by other regulators.
In addition to the FCA, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined the same five banks $1.5bn.