Three Banks Are Reportedly Cooperating With A New Justice Department Criminal Probe Into Currency Market Manipulation
Reuters/Stephen Lam
The Department of Justice is opening up an investigation into currency market manipulation, Bloomberg reports.The FBI is investigating the matter as well.
RBS, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup have already started the process of going over e-mails, instant messages and other interbank communications related to currency trading.
So those could make for some interesting reading.
The U.S. investigation comes as the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority said in June it was reviewing potential manipulation of exchange rates. That month, allegations that dealers at banks pooled information through instant messages and used client orders to move benchmark currency rates were reported by Bloomberg News. Regulators are probing the alleged abuse of financial benchmarks used in markets from oil to interest rate swaps by the firms that play a central role in setting them.