Geneva: Switzerland’s competition regulator on Monday named eight global banks it is investigating for possible manipulation of foreign exchange rates.
The move is the latest twist in an investigation by regulators in the US, Europe and Asia on whether major banks colluded to manipulate the trillion-dollar foreign exchange market.
The Swiss Competition Commission for the first time named the banks it was scrutinising. It cited the two largest Swiss banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, along with Zurich Cantonal Bank, Julius Baer and JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
“There are indications that competition agreements for the manipulation of exchange rates have been made in Forex trading between banks,” the commission known as WEKO said in a statement.
The alleged coordination, it said, might include the exchange of confidential information, transactions with other market participants at agreed price levels and coordinated actions to influence a foreign exchange benchmark.
“Based on the information currently available to the competition commission, authorities believe that the most important currencies are affected,” WEKO said, adding that it “cannot exclude” other banks and brokers also may have been involved.
Credit Suisse said it was “astonished by the allegations, and noted it was not subject to WEKO’s preliminary investigation into various banks.
“The press release contains incorrect references to Credit Suisse AG and these allegations are both inappropriate and harmful to our reputation,” the Zurich-based bank said of the statement.
